Top 12 Life Lessons from 12 months in 2022

With the year coming to an end soon, I spent time introspecting on my life lessons for this year. For me, this is a process to help me learn from my life experiences & improve myself.

These lessons cover areas like Sports, Health, Self, happiness, relationships & much more.

Following are my top 12 lessons & reflections from this year’s journey:

1.      Health

a.      Health is wealth. Don’t be reactive but proactive about your health. Health will add years to your life and life to your years.

2.      Self

a.      Be selfish by learning to sit with yourself & love yourself.

b.      It’s important to know your end goal for almost every aspect of your life from Finance to health to Job etc.. To give you an analogy, if you can’t see the “goal post” in a football field, then you are just shooting in the dark

c.      Your gut feeling knows what’s right for you 

3.      Happiness

a.      Grass is Greener on the side where you water it- Neil Barringham

b.     We are all dreaming of some magical roses garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our window today- Dale Carnegie

4.      Giving Back

a.      True happiness lies in giving back in life

5.      Sports

a.      There’s nothing like supporting Underdogs or being an underdog & winning. The victory is 1000 times sweeter when you are the underdog.

b.     At the same time, it’s not only about winning. It’s about enjoying the process & also making sure others enjoy it.

6.      Travel

a.      Travel is one of the biggest investments you can make in yourself. As someone correctly captured, we travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us.

7.      Relationships

a.      Don’t speak to people in your love language. Speak to them in their love language. It can be quality time, acts of service, words of affirmation, gifts, etc.

b.     Don’t react but respond

8.      Digital Wellness/ My passion

a.      No amount of success will be enough. You need to be content with what you have & learn to love the journey & keep contributing because you love what you do.

9.      Job

a.      You work for your boss. As people say, ‘People don’t leave bad jobs, they leave bad bosses’.  I’ve been very lucky & grateful to have good bosses over the last few years which has made my journey & job much more content.

10.   Time

a.      We overestimate what we can do in a day but underestimate what we can do in a year/longer period of time.

11.   Slowing Down

a.      Try to slow down & enjoy life. Be grateful for the small moments in life! Even if it’s just sipping and enjoying coffee in your balcony.

b.      Life is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. We all need consistent breaks to rejuvenate & reconnect with ourselves. If you don’t take breaks, you will burnout. You will not fall behind in life & work if you take these breaks but you will win the marathon in the longer term if you take these breaks.

c.      The real luxury in life is not money but time, presence & savoring each moment. I did a  60 hrs digital detox & honestly, it felt like a month. Time was going away slowly & I was able to fully cherish & savor each & everything from meals to reflection to nature to time with family etc.

12.   Self-Compassion

a.      It’s important to be kind to yourself be it in life & your journey.  If things don’t go your way, cut yourself some slack. We are all human beings & make mistakes.

Most importantly, during this life journey don’t forget to have fun ;) !

What have been your top learning’s from the year 2022?

Would love to have your thoughts in the comments section below.