What I Learned In 2019.

It’s official! 2019 is almost over. And what a year it was. What a decade! I don’t know about you but I had a lot of new experiences in 2019. From solo traveling to learning new lessons & finally incorporating some of the lessons I learned before, into my life. It was a year of growth, big decisions, new accomplishments and changes. I will name few things I learned in 2019. and I will hopefully continue to cherish them in 2020 and continue learning.

1. Change comes from within

One of the biggest lessons I learned is that change truly comes from within. It doesn’t matter if you are trying to help someone else or work on yourself, it always comes from within. No outside source can do that for you if you don’t decide you want it for yourself. Decision is the first step. For example, did you ever try so hard to help someone and no matter what you did, the progress never happened and you asked yourself over and over again what can you do differently to help them? Hint: nothing! If someone doesn’t want to change, no matter what you do for them, it simply won’t work. And the hard part is: you have to accept that and move on. Honestly, I still struggle with that part sometimes, and hopefully 2020 will bring me more clarity and strength to truly let go and to always remember the power of planting a seed. Therefore, I decided to focus more on myself in order to better myself and understand others. So here we go to the next lesson: focusing on yourself first.

2. Focus on yourself first

I believe we all have to work on ourselves to become better versions of ourselves, and then & only then encourage others to do the same. This way, society and the world changes. It all starts from one person, as cliche as it sounds. Why on yourself first, isn’t that selfish? Nope! How come? Because you want to be an example for others. If you start talking about the change, but it’s nowhere in sight, you seem hypocritical. How would you feel if someone would advise you to do better, but you see them repeating same harmful patterns? You probably wouldn’t take them seriously. But if you focus on yourself, and work on becoming a better version of you, then you can understand others better & help them (if they want to.) So, focus on your goals, what makes you happy, what doesn’t, what are your patterns you wish to change, what do you enjoy doing the most, how can you change your negative thinking, etc. There are many options, choose what is best for you, but put yourself first because when you know excatly what you want & when you put your needs first, then you can truly have healthy relationships.

I would also advise you not to worry too much about what’s going on in the world or listen to negative news, because it will affect you and you will lose focus again to an outside source instead of looking in. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be aware of what’s happening, but focusing on yourself includes thinking of what can you change about yourself before you go into the world and help the planet 🙂 Remember, society changes starting from one person changing themselves. And then, ripple effect and boom, utopia (slowly, but surely 🙂 )

3. Make the best out of every experience

I had a few situations with people this year that left me drained and in disbelief. But I decided I will learn from it. I decided I will remember what choices led me into those situations and I will remember the signs and know better next time. And just like that, my experience became a learning one. I won’t use the word “positive” because it wasn’t positive at all, but I also don’t want to call it “negative” because I want to take that power away from it so I don’t feel angry when I reflect on it. Therefore, learning experience seems quite right.

I think there is no point in life other than making the best out of your experiences. I don’t think the point is to always be happy, well fed and with the money in the bank, great career and family, perfect friendships and so on. I think the point is to feel pain, to be broke sometimes, to be sad, have a heartbreak, fall apart & get back up. Those things teach you bigger life lessons and how to be grateful & humble. With that being said, when you take life with a grain of salt, it’s easier to overcome those “negative” aspects of it. Even laugh at it. Because you know something great can and will come out of it, if you give it a chance. No matter how bad it is, I think there is a lesson for us to learn on a much bigger level than what we can sometimes comprehend. Only then I can understand why there are so many bad things happening around the world.

Enjoy happy moments and try to create more of them. Learn from every single experience, negative or positive. It’s all a big game, it’s all for us to learn, and grow and become better version of ourselves on a much bigger level. So whatever happens in your life, try to find a positive outcome or at least a learning one.

4. It’s never too late to start

When I was younger, I would often think I’m too old to start learning something new or it’s too late to try something I always wanted. This year I realized it’s truly never too late to start doing something you always wanted. Dancing, singing or painting lessons, sewing, opening a new business, working on yourself, or anything else that comes to your mind. Even if you are in your 60’s and you always wanted to try skiing but never got the chance too & now you can, GO FOR IT. Or if you are in your 20’s and you wanted to focus on dancing but you were shy, and now you finally have the courage to dance your ass off, GO FOR IT! You won’t regret it. I will tell you what you will definitely regret though; not trying and always wondering could you do it or not. It’s waaayyy better to go for it and fail at it, than to always wonder would you succeed at it or would you just simply enjoy it. So go and try new things, start your business or change your diet or whatever it is on your mind, and simply go for it. IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO START!

5. Don’t care about what others think of you

Here is a silly picture of my friend and I in Thailand last year because I DO NOT CARE 😀 (Fun fact: I welcomed 2019 in Thailand. More about it soon!)

This lesson I learned comes close to the one before. I often didn’t do things because I was afraid of others & their opinions. What would they say, what will they think about me, this is dumb, they will make fun of me, and the list goes on and on. It took me so much time to finally realize: people simply do not care as much as we think they do. And if it happens that some do, they are spending too much time focusing on others and talking about others instead of focusing on themselves, so their opinion doesn’t even matter and it’s completely invalid! I realized that once I started simply talking about the things I would like to try & do and I didn’t get reactions I thought I would. So once I actually did something I thought people would find stupid or crazy, no one cared as much as I did! Maybe few of them commented behind my back, but I decided simply NOT TO CARE. If I was happy and I didn’t harm anyone, I was good. I started feeling more confident as well. So keep doing what you’re doing or take a chance and try something new, trust me, no one cares so much about others that they would spend so much time & energy on others and none on themselves.

6. Let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food.

Ahh, the famous quote by Hippocrates. I’m plant based for the past 3 years now but it wasn’t until this year that I actually started researching about the effects of food on our body & mind. Once I realized how food can effect the mood and some major mental issues, I decided to eat even healthier and let the food really be medicine. Mostly organic, alkaline, more fresh fruits & raw meals, no sugar or artificial flavours, alcohol or fake processed food. This time, however, I decided to take it one step at a time. I became plant based in one night, one day I was eating meat & dairy, and the next I wasn’t. (If you want to know more about that, tell me in the comments below and I will write about it in one of my next posts!) But this time, I’m taking it slowly and really focusing on mindful eating and seeing how certain food makes me feel. I honestly believe we can cure many diseases by simply eating clean, fresh, organic food, take herbs and enough water, sunlight and exercise. But, for now, let’s start with clean food. Read labels, if you can’t pronounce it, it’s probably bad for you. Eat more fruits & veggies, and less meat & dairy. Trust me, you will feel the difference. I spoke about it a bit in my last post, so you can check that out by clicking HERE.

Dear friends, I hope this gave you some clarity and focus for the upcoming 2020. New decade. New choices. 2020 is perfect vision so I imagine this year will be very eye opening for many of us. Let’s start the year by focusing on ourselves, taking care of others when we can, not caring about what others think and eating healthy foods!

Let’s have a discussion in the comments! What is something you learned in 2019.? What are your 2020. resolutions? Aaanddd what are your plans for New Years Eve? I can’t wait to hear it!

Until next time, let’s connect on INSTAGRAM & PINTEREST. And don’t forget to share this post if it helped you. And of course, HAPPY NEW YEAR! 😀