In our instant gratification culture, it’s easy to forget that most personal change does not occur as a single static event in time, but rather as a long, gradual evolution where we’re hardly aware of it as it’s happening. We rarely wake up one day and suddenly notice wild, life-altering changes in ourselves.
No, our identities slowly shift, like sea sand getting pushed around by the ocean, slowly accumulating into new contours and forms over the passage of time.
It’s only when we stop years or decades later and look back that we can notice all of the dramatic changes that have taken place. Advice is always easier giving than receiving, but this is something that stuck with me, and it inspired me to share some lessons I’ve learned in my first 40 years of life. My 40s certainly were dramatic. Here are some of the things I learned:
I’ve learnt that…
- You cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them.
- No matter how much I care, some people just don’t care back.
- It takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it.
- It’s not what you have in your life, but who you have in your life that counts.
- You can do something in an instant that will give you a heartache for life.
- No matter how thin you slice it, there are always two sides.
- You should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.
- We are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.
- There are people who love you dearly, but just don’t know how to show it.
- True friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.
- Just because someone doesnt love you the way you want them to, doesn’t mean they don’t love you with all they have.
- Maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you’ve had and what you’ve learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you’ve celebrated.
- No matter how good a friend someone is, they’re going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.
- No matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn’t stop for your grief.
- Just because two people argue, it doesn’t mean they don’t love each other.And just because they don’t argue, it doesn’t mean they do.
- We don’t have to change friends if we understand that friends change.
- You shouldn’t be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.
- There are many ways of falling and staying in love.
- No matter how many friends you have, if you are their pillar, you will feel lonely and lost at the times you need them most.
- The people you care most about in life are taken from you to soon.
- Although the word “love” can have many different meanings, it loses value when overly used.
- Love is not for me to keep, but to pass on to the next person I see.
- There are people who love you dearly but just don’t know how to show it.
- Even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one.
- Every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love that human touch-holding hands, a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.
- I still have a lot to learn……
– Anonymous
