25 Reminders For When Life Feels Like Too Much
Tourist destinations might be closed for now, but soon enough (perhaps sooner than some would like), they will be open again. Meanwhile, people fuel their consumerist habits by ordering online and posting banana bread pictures on Insta, not even realizing the extent of their thirst for buying.
In a world where nothing ever seems to be enough, it is hard to believe that you are the one who is, in fact, very much enough.
You might think you need to lose weight and fit into a size 6; you might think you need a shinier car, the latest smartphone, and the fanciest house decor. You might think you will not be deemed okay if you don’t buy more, show more, are more.
But I am here to tell you that you, my dear, are more than enough. Here are 25 reminders to look at when you feel you have struggled for too long and have dealt with too much.
1. Nobody Can Be Everything
You might think you have to be everything. That you have to wear the perfect size and the perfect clothes, live in the picture-perfect house, and build a movie-worthy, perfect life.
The absolute truth is that you don’t have to do any of this. Nobody can be everything, so pick your battles, fight them with fierceness, and win at whatever you set your mind to. One goal at a time.
2. Nobody Can Be Flawless
All those pretty ladies on TV and on Insta? All those buffed up guys in gym magazines?
They do exist, and they sure work hard for their looks. But even so, everything you see through the looking glass of the TV, internet, and media are just bits and pieces of what those people’s lives truly are.
They might look shiny, successful, and super happy in their flawless bodies, houses, and cars. Yet you will never actually know just how happy they are. The astounding number of celebrities suffering from depression proves it: You can be flawless and have everything, but happiness is not a matter of quantity or beauty standards.
3. Social Media Is, Well, A Lie
If you scroll down your Facebook feed, it might appear like everyone else is doing better than you. On social media, all of your former school classmates are CEOs, doctors, you name it. They also somehow manage to be perfect parents, own the most adorable little pups and kittens, and find the time to cook intricate dishes every other day.
Social media is a lie because it allows you to see just what those people want you to see. Behind closed doors, most people have their own problems. It’s just that they don’t vent them out into your social media feed.
4. Mistakes Are Okay
Mistakes are so natural it would be foolish to believe someone would be godlike enough not to make them.
There is a very good reason you should believe mistakes are okay. Beyond the fact that you really need to be more forgiving with yourself and show yourself more compassion, mistakes are okay because that’s how we learn. We are programmed to learn in a handful of ways, one of which is exactly this: life bloopers.
5. Taking The Wrong Path Is Okay Too
It’s okay to not know exactly where you want to be five years from now (like everyone is asked at every single job interview under the Sun).
It’s also more than okay to switch your path and do whatever you please. Yes, you might have spent years doing a specific something, but it’s never too late to change your mind and pursue a different road in your personal or professional life. NOBODY should ever have to spend the rest of their lives feeling miserable just because they have invested time, effort, emotion, and/or financial resources into something that did not work out.
6. Authenticity Is Worth More Than A Billion Dollars
Be authentic. Be yourself, not because you have “no other choice,” but because it is the most amazing person to be.
Authenticity can be defined in many ways, but the most wonderful thing about it is that you get to define your own sense of authenticity. So allow yourself to be.
7. Happiness Has Nothing To Do With Everything Outside
Nobody can define your happiness better, more accurately, and more astoundingly beautiful than you.
Happiness is not something you buy at the mall, nor is it a degree or an extra zero on your paycheck. It is a state of mind. When you finally accept that happiness comes from within, you have won.
8. People Are People
Don’t let anyone put you down, directly or indirectly. People are people, meaning they too are flawed and they too might hurt someone. That’s okay. Forgive and forget, but don’t allow yourself to be swept down into the dark pit of holding grudges against anyone.
Even more, don’t allow yourself to stay when you should be leaving. Nobody is ever allowed to intoxicate you with their own negativity, so if you feel a place or a person is not good for you, then accept that you have the right to leave. No questions asked.
9. You Are Strong
You might cry and feel lost. You might even feel on the brink of a moral and emotional collapse.
These are not moments of weakness, though, but more like a forest you have to go through to shine brighter on the other side.
Every bump in the road is an occasion for you to turn into a real-life Phoenix, to rise from your ashes and astound everyone with the entirety of your being.
10. You Are Stunning
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It truly is. So the next time you look in the mirror and start picking at your flaws, remember that you are stunning. Weight, nose sizes, eye color, hair length—they have nothing to do with beauty. They are social standards. And if we have to be honest, they change quite a lot.
Just look at how the “perfect woman” was defined 200 years ago and look at where we are now.
You are gorgeous just the way you are. Take care of your health, eat nutritious meals, move, and pamper yourself, but know that no silly social standards can ever tell you that you are not beautiful enough.
11. You Have The Power To Fight
You really do. Just like we are wired to learn by making mistakes, we are also wired to fight. That’s how our species survived in the end. We learned how to fight using our best weapons and we rose to the top of the food chain.
Being a fighter is in your DNA.
12. More Things Will Never Make You Happy
Buying stuff will never make you truly happy. It might give you a moment of joy and excitement, but as mentioned before, happiness is a state of mind.
Happiness stems from how you take care of yourself and how you learn to detach yourself from the pain and suffering, which are exterior to you. Happiness begins when you accept that there are things you cannot change. And that’s okay.
13. Failure Is Just A Stepping Stone, Anyway
If you look at every single successful person in the history of the world, you will very easily see a very clear pattern: They all failed at some point.
This circles us back to the fact that mistakes are more than okay. Failure is also okay, precisely because it is a stepping stone and a purifying fire on the way to success.
14. Heartbreak Happens
You cannot control how someone else feels about you, no matter how much you try. As such, heartbreak is bound to happen sooner or later in life, in ways that are more or less irreparable.
Accept that you will have your heart broken, but don’t let that prevent you from enjoying the ride. Love is amazing even when it hurts, so embrace it as it is and take your positive thoughts with you when you close the door behind you.
15. Abuse Happens
Abuse has nothing to do with how accomplished you are in your career or how much money you have in your bank account.
It happens. And you have to move away from it when it does to allow yourself to heal and rebuild.
16. You Don’t Have To Settle
This is especially true for women, but men, too, might feel pressured into settling.
That is the last thing you want to do, though. Settling just for the sake of settling will only bring misery and pain on both ends of the spectrum. Don’t settle. Be curious, search, experience everything, and settle on something or someone when you truly feel that it is right.
17. You Cannot Predict The Future
No matter how much you plan, you cannot predict the future. As such, it is important for you to accept that some things will happen and you might not be fully prepared for them.
That’s okay. It is, as I was saying earlier, out of your control.
18. You Can Change Everything
You have the power to change whatever you set your mind to, precisely because fighting is in your DNA.
Whatever makes you unhappy now can be turned around and tossed away to be replaced with something that brings you genuine peace and everlasting joy.
19. Fashion Comes And Fashion Goes
You really don’t have to dress a certain way to be beautiful, successful, or worthy.
You do you. Fashion comes and fashion goes, and there’s really not much you can do about it if you don’t like it.
20. You Deserve The Truest Kind Of Love
Everyone deserves love, and you are no exception. We are created by love and we deserve to be loved in a pure, true, and absolute way.
You deserve love that makes you laugh, and that respects you; love that makes you giggle when you think of it; love that makes you feel pleasure and joy; love that embraces every inch of your body, mind, and soul.
21. You Are Worthy Of Happiness
Just like you are worthy of love, you are also worthy of happiness (which you may or may not define through the perspective of love).
No matter who you are and where you come from, you absolutely deserve to be happy. Don’t let anyone make you think anything else.
22. Success Is Really A Matter of Choice
No, we are not “wired” to be unsuccessful or mediocre. We are wired to win precisely because we are fighters and because we deserve everything good.
You make the choice. Are you going to be successful?
23. Being Vulnerable Is Okay
Being a fighter has nothing to do with hiding behind a wall of emotionless faces and actions.
Being vulnerable is more than okay, it is what makes us beautifully human and wonderfully flawed.
Allow yourself to be vulnerable every once in a while. It will make you feel alive.
24. You Are Gifted With Beauty Everywhere You Look
If you know how to look, you can find beauty everywhere you turn your head. A flower, the smile of someone you love, the taste of a cupcake, the memories of your childhood—they are all beautiful, and you have the power to look at them through your own perspective to make them yours.
25. You Are The Only One Who Is YOU
You are enough because you are the only one who is YOU. As such, you get to define your worth, your success, your pains, and your struggles. You get to define your beauty standards and your timing. You get to define who you settle for and whether or not you do it.
You are the only one who is YOU. And you have something truly unique to offer to this world. You deserve to love yourself first and foremost!