I recently read the Happiness Project and in it, Gretchen Rubin talks about her ‘secrets of adulthood’. She starts the book with this list – it’s sort of a summary of things she has found to be true. You can read her list here. It made me think of my own truisms. Here’s what I have learnt during this wonderful life of mine:
- Life surprises us most of the time.
- The world is being run without me having any say in it so I should just concentrate on helping when I can.
- The real world doesn’t reward perfectionists, it rewards people who get things done.
- Rather than being scared and running away from things, sometimes you just gotta show up. Despite fear. Despite discomfort.
- Motherhood is a privileged path.
- When you feel ambivalence creeping in to your life, you need to follow it to its source.
- Creativity can be nurtured, but is mostly innate.
- Never underestimate the importance of hard work.
- Don’t mistake sweetness for weakness.
- There is nothing pretty about entitlement.
- Every person is a living, breathing story. Just like me.
- Reading, watching and listening to trash creates pollution of the mind.
- Happiness is the greatest revenge.
- There are many different ways of caring.
- You always take your point of view with you.
- It’s amazing how deep happiness can go.
- I don’t need an audience for every moment of my life.
- Relationships are a day by day trek toward greater patience, deeper love & gutsier faith.
- Donating money to charity is not the most I can do. It’s the least I can do.
- Eating chocolate gives you cancer. Not eating chocolate gives you cancer. Just eat the chocolate.
- Racism was the fight of last century, homophobia is the fight of this century. Fight the fight.
- Have less, enjoy more.
- Australianism is not just what’s in your own backyard.
- Every time you eat a schnitzel, you may as well just tape the whole thing to your thigh.
- Goodness in people overwhelms anything that is not goodness.
- Pinterest breeds unrealistic expectations.
- Just because something is a good opportunity doesn’t mean you have to do it.
- Own your own story.
- It’s more important to focus than multitask
- Humans are imperfect. And that’s where the beauty lies.
What do you know to be true?
The random musings of Neen 
I love this! Oprah has a column in the end of each mag (and probably now a book too) called ‘what I know to be true’. Reminds me of that.
I love this post. Here are some things I know:
– being a parent is like experiencing the world in colour for the first time. The Reds are redder, the yellows yellower, the greys greyer.
– we tend to judge the messy behind the scenes part of our lives against the stage show of other people’s lives. This is unhelpful.
– it’s never to late to pursue a dream, find a kindred spirit, change an opinion or do something new.
I love these Em, especially your second point. It’s so true! We do judge our behind the scenes part of our lives with the stage show of others. And social media just exacerbates that.
“Rather than being scared and running away from things, sometimes you just gotta show up. Despite fear. Despite discomfort.” <- Almost everything gives me fear and anxiety. I generally suck it up and face my fears. This is why I value the handful of friends I have. When I go out to see them, I actually wanted to without fear.
"Eating chocolate gives you cancer. Not eating chocolate gives you cancer. Just eat the chocolate." – Ok :)