30 at 30
Ermagerd! Erm 30!
Turning 30 has led me to think about what I have learned over the past three decades. Below are thirty tidbits that I’ve picked up. Enjoy!
- The most valuable strength to have is to know your weaknesses.
- If you don’t want to suck, then get better.
- You can lose everything by taking the high road, but you can lose yourself taking the low road.
- Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you come up short. That is okay.
- Failing hurts; because failing hurts success is euphoric (when failure is a viable outcome.)
- It is much easier to learn from a setback than a success.
- You may not have the right to win every fight you want to fight, but you have the right to fight every fight you want to win.
- Plan your work, and work your plan.
- Respect and skills are earned, not given.
- Be valuable. Always find a way to be valuable.
- Friends are the family you choose, and family comes first.
- You don’t know who your friends are (or aren’t) until you need them.
- Don’t forget to tell your family that you love them.
- Collect people and do not let them go. (I have failed miserably at this point.)
- You don’t know how strong you are until you meet your limits.
- The ability to be vulnerable is the human condition.
- When friends are fighting, the first one to ask you to pick a side is almost always wrong.
- You can’t help those who do not want to be helped.
- If your boss is implicated in a federal ethics investigation your first week on the job, then it will likely be an unhealthy work environment.
- The most rewarding part of teaching has nothing to do with the in-classroom experience. It is watching the young mature and develop into upstanding, outstanding human beings.
- Don’t be afraid to take a risk and reinvent yourself.
- There is beauty in everything, even if it is not immediately visible.
- If you’re unhappy, then change what you are doing. Keep changing until you are happy, because life is too short to be unhappy.
- Even a simple change of scenery can revolutionize one’s life.
- Don’t take opportunities for granted, because they will not last forever. Tomorrows are not always guaranteed.
- The only thing more annoying than a has-been is a never-was.
- Fear can be paralyzing, but overcoming fear is liberating.
- Sometimes, people say rotten things. Other times, rotten people say things. Learn to figure out the difference and discard the latter.
- Always have a Plan B. You will probably need it.
- You do not know what you have until it is gone—especially time and people.