Good Life Lessons to Begin the New Year With

On this 27 degree (-3 celsius) day, I’m writing in bed, looking back on 2019 and thinking about life lessons that have proven to be helpful.

The sky outside my window is a soft pastel blue, calming, gentle and ever so fleeting. Already, the light is slanting into our room, having skimmed the tops of skeletal trees half-heartedly clinging on to their remaining leaves. It’s a sign of our relentless spin around the sun. Another year comes to an end.

The end of one chapter is followed by the beginning of the next!

I’ve purposely kept these points brief in case you’re still busy with celebrations.

19 Good Life Lessons for 2020

#1 What you put your attention to grows

It doesn’t matter if you suck at something, what matters is you don’t stop learning to do it. Passion is the undying attraction toward a chosen subject, or what you obsessively turn your attention toward. Talent is a byproduct of repetitive practice.

Think twice about what you put your attention on. I unwittingly put it on self-deprecation and now I’m a pro in it. But I’m working on correcting that!

#2 Every time you repeat an action, it’s a chance to do it better

Be it cooking, writing, saving water, drawing, crafting. Every time you repeat an action, you’re practicing it and improving on it. Remember this and elevate what feels like chores to skill-refinement!

#3 The simpler your life becomes, the lesser you need to do.

#4 The lesser things you spend on, the more money you get to keep. (Or the lesser you need to work.)

#5 When you focus on an action, it’s micro-meditation

You can micro-meditate when you’re in the shower, having your breakfast, cutting carrots, washing the toilet, writing, driving, or commuting. In other words, every moment you’re not talking to someone.

Take these little moments and just focus. You can either focus on what you’re doing. Or if you’re not doing anything (like when you’re commuting), close your eyes and focus on your breathes. It makes chores and meh experience easier and tempers more even.

#6 Always abide by the rule of non-injury. That includes yourself.

The rule of non-injury means to not hurt anyone. Hurting someone is the fastest way to invite unhappiness, guilt, hurt, and even jail time into your life. So, don’t hurt anyone – not even with words – if you want peace in your life.

Yes, it includes not hurting ourselves. Don’t engage in negative self-talk. That’s what I do and it has caused so many problems for me. I’m sure most of you do it too. Let’s work on it together!

#7 Everyone has a different path in life. That’s what makes this world work.

Don’t compare your life with someone else’s. It’ll only make you miserable. I know, because it makes me miserable.

#8 Inspiration is like the tides – it ebbs and flows

I used to worry more about running out of things to write, these days I’m more reassured. Inspiration and ideas ebb and flow. No matter what kind of creator you are, don’t worry about your next idea. It will come to you.

#9 Discipline is doing things even when you’re not inspired

That’s not to say that you can sit around and not do anything while you waited for inspiration. Ideas will come, but you need to create the window for them to express themselves. That’s where discipline comes in.

Keep practicing your craft. The work is the window. It could be writing about your day, drawing what’s before you. As long as you keep the window open, you don’t have to worry.

#10 It’s okay to suck, to fail, or to be weak.

Just being human! Perfection is overrated and doesn’t exist anyway. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off. Tomorrow is a brand new day. 🙂

#11 You can’t choose what comes into your mind, but you can choose how to react to it

As someone who’s blessed with depression, I know I can’t choose to be positive or negative. But, I can choose how to react to negative thoughts. Do I dwell on it, or do I try to dispel it?

The same goes for everything else. The thought arises to eat another candy bar. Do you go for it? Or do you save it for another day? We do have a choice. That’s not to say it’ll be easy. But if we tackle our problems one little thought at a time, maybe we stand a chance of solving them.

#12 Everything we buy/use has a carbon footprint.

Choose what you buy wisely. And try not to let things go to waste. When that happens, we not only waste the money we spent on it, we also waste all the resources put into making, transporting and disposing of it.

#13 The situation at the moment doesn’t represent the situation a year or two down the road.

When things get dreary and life feels hopeless, remember that things change. Situations can improve. You can catch a break. Don’t lose heart!

#14 Good or bad, all things will pass.

Cherish the good, tide over the bad. This too shall pass.

#15 Every time we think the little scrap of plastic we’re throwing away wouldn’t do anything to the environment, we should remember there are 7.8 billion of us here.

Our actions matter. Recycling isn’t a solution too, because there are 7.8 billion of us using plastic. Refuse and reuse first.

#16 Walking is good for us.

I know this because Singaporeans love food in general and I think the only reason we’re not all super unhealthy is that we walk often and when we take trains we’re usually standing… But don’t take my word for it.

“Walking improves fitness, cardiac health, alleviates depression and fatigue, improves mood, creates less stress on joints and reduces pain, can prevent weight gain, reduce risk for cancer and chronic disease, improve endurance, circulation, and posture, and the list goes on…” Why walking is the most underrated form of exercise by NBC News

#17 If we don’t love our body, we’ll find faults with it no matter how good it becomes.

Same with everything about our selves.

#18 All that glitters is not gold.

You can be poor but rich at heart. You can be powerful but be downright nasty, like the orange man in the white house. The super-rich YouTuber may be feeling empty as hell.

Of course, you can also be poor and still be a shitty human. The point is, don’t take anything at face value – certainly not how happy and wealthy everyone on your social media looks. Everyone has their problems.

#19 Don’t take life so seriously.

Everyone has their problems. The good thing is, we are but a speck of dust in the grand scheme of the universe.

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So, what do you think of my good life lessons? I’m still working on many of them, but I’m pretty sure you’ll benefit from them too.

Regardless of how our 2019 and the years before have been, I hope we’ll all let it go and be ready for 2020 with open arms. The past holds memories and lessons for the future, and they should be the only things from the past we hold on to.