Lessons of Living

I recently discovered this tumblr: icanread.tumblr.com, and being the procrastination queen that I am, I decided to go back through and read every single page of it (yes, all one hundred and sixty six pages). And I did not regret wasting about six hours on this website. Because it wasn't wasted, I learnt so much and I reached so many epiphanies that I simply had to share it with you. You could say that I most definitely reached a change in perspective.

Those who have been around me for the past few days would know these already, but let me share with you three messages I found particularly inspiring:

"do one thing a day that scares you"

"most of the things you worry about never actually happen"

and

"anything worth having is worth fighting for"

They're all pretty simple, and I'm not sure if they'll have the same affect on you as they did on me, but I'll try to explain what I realised.

Think about all those opportunities you lost because you were scared to try: those childhood dreams you gave up on because you were distracted by the fears of not earning enough money, not being what your parents expected, or not being ambitious enough. Those lost lovers who could have turned into something wonderful, but you let them go because you were too scared to do anything.

My point is: if you want something, go for it. Do not give up on something just because it's the easy way out, or you can't be bothered doing something about it. As the above messages state: do things that scare you and cast aside worries! Most of us fear or worry about too many things, and sure, when we figure out that it's never going to happen, the feeling of relief kinda feels nice. But just think of all that time and effort you wasted on fearing and worrying over things that never actually happen.

It's your life: go for what you want, even if a bigger part of you doesn't want to.

If you have a big dream you don't think you can achieve: you can if you want to. You don't think you'll get high enough marks for whatever career path you want? You don't think your parents will approve? There are always other ways. There is not one single way to get what you want, if you don't get enough marks, travel abroad, look at other study option. And do not let the opinions of your parents or friends determine who you become.

If you like someone, whether it's a fleeting interest, a small crush or a blown out madly-in-love thing, do not lose them for lack of trying. Sure, you're scared they'll lose interest if you pay too much attention, or you might overdo it, or perhaps you fear heartbreak. But at least you can know that you tried. Things happen for a reason, and if you don't end up with them, there are many more lovers out there. But don't sit around waiting for something to happen, or for opportunities to arise. You make things happen, and you go hunting for opportunities. Do not wait for things to come to you- fate is for losers.

A silly metaphor that just popped into my head, for those of you who still don't get it: Life is like a giant apple tree. If you want the apples, you find a ladder, climb up and pick the apples even if you fall off your ladder and hurt yourself. Don't sit under the apple tree waiting for the apples to drop down to you: the yummy apples are somewhere high up and will probably be snatched up by someone else before they fall down to you. So get up there and pick all the good apples before they all rot!

*

Those three messages above have been the motto of my life for the past few days. Whenever I feel a worry or fear bubbling up, I simply pop them away, to later realise that I had nothing to fear in the first place. And merde, it feels good.