36 Things I've Learned in 36 Years

1. The only mind I can read is my own, and sometimes my efforts in that quest are faulty at best. 
2. When people compliment me, they do not want to hear 10,000 reasons why I do not deserve their compliment. They want to see me smile. That is all. 
3. It’s better to sing off key than not to sing at all.
4. The hardest, most excruciating and tiring experiences of life often double as the most rewarding, satisfying, and meaningful. 
5. Usually when people lash out and say something nasty, they are not necessarily trying to make me or someone else feel like crap. Rather, they are trying to feel less crappy about themselves.
6. Holding grudges hurts me more than it hurts others.
7. If I address issues when they are just nagging nuisances, I’ll be able to solve them and move on long before too much resentment and anger sets in.
8. If I use difficult people as a way to grow and practice my skills (assertiveness, compassion, forgiveness, communication skills, patience, etc), life becomes more fun and more bearable. 
9. There is nothing that I absolutely have to ever get done. 
10. It doesn’t matter how carefully I craft a sentence. Someone won’t get it.
11. Looking up "naughty" words in the dictionary was MORE fun when I was 12!
12. Humans, for the most part, are unpredictable. That’s what makes life interesting. 
13. The best way to get someone to open up is to stop talking.
14. Failing because I was too scared to take a risk does more damage to my psyche than failing because I took a risk and it just didn’t work out.
15. I must believe in myself because no one is going to do that for me.
16. Nearly every food that seems unusual and scary tastes just like chicken.
17. It doesn’t matter how seemingly different someone is from me. We still have something in common.
18. Saying the same thing with more volume isn’t going to make Adam understand it. 
19. Saying the same thing 100 more times isn’t going to make Adam get it. 
20. Maintaining friendships (and making new friends) is an active process.
21. No matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.
22. Keeping a vegetable garden is worth a medicine cabinet full of pills.
23. I can keep going, long after I can't.
24. Even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.
25. Being able to hug someone after they have puked on you, is love. Period.
26. It is a hundred times more difficult to burn calories than to refrain from consuming them in the first place.
27. Every problem you have is your responsibility, regardless of who caused it.
28. Nobody has it all figured out.
29. Every passing face on the street represents a story every bit as compelling and complicated as yours.
30. Putting something off makes it instantly harder and scarier.
31. Anyone who judges you by the kind of car you drive, the clothes you wear of the home you live in... isn't someone worth impressing.
32. Everyone you meet is better than you at something.
33. Whenever you hate something, it hates you back: people, situations and inanimate objects alike.
34. Listen.
35. A hand written note every now and then, means more then an expensive night out.
36. I still have a lot to learn.

Live & Learn by Oy Photography via Etsy