27 Life Lessons I've Learned In 27 Years

I recently celebrated my 27th birthday (woohoo!) and I tend to get very reminiscent on my birthdays! I started thinking about all the lessons I’ve learned over the years and wanted to share them with you. Some of these are things I learned from mentors, some I learned the hard way, but all of them are things I wish I’d known sooner. If we all took even one of these lessons to heart, we’d change the world. So as I celebrate 27 times around the sun, here’s 27 lessons I’ve picked up along the way. Enjoy!

Whatever it is. You’ll find a way to get through the thing that’s stressing you out right now. They say the grass is greener on the other side, but it ALWAYS looks greener on the other side, because you don’t bother to notice how green your grass is when you’re standing on it. Keep your chin up, because you’ll get through whatever you’re going through.

If someone offers to help you, let them. We weren’t meant to do life alone, and everyone needs help sometimes. Don’t let your pride, ego, or the limiting belief that you’re undeserving be a reason that you don’t take help in a time that you need it.

Rich, poor, working, or not, you have the constant influx of kindness to pay forward if you choose to. Life is hard, some people can be mean, and it’s always easier to get angry, but kindness takes you farther than anything else. “In a world where you can be anything, be kind.”

When it’s hard, when it hurts, and when it’s awkward is when you learn and grow the most. Ask questions you think are dumb, don’t be afraid to look stupid, and have hard conversations. Life gets easier the moment you learn this lesson. When you force yourself into uncomfortable situations for the sake of being a better person, you’ll become one.

Half of your technology problems can be solved by turning it off and back on. It may not be a permanent fix, but it’s a fix for the moment. As a bonus, this works with your brain too. Burnout is a real thing, and when you’re brain is done, it’s time to turn it off, step away, and come back later with a fresh perspective.

Your word matters, but only if you keep it. Whether it’s a promise to someone else or a commitment to yourself, you’re only as good as the thing you’ll follow through on. What you say you’ll do doesn’t matter if people know you won’t actually come through. Your subconscious mind knows it too. If you always break promises to yourself then you’ll never break bad habits and create good ones, because you’re already setting yourself up to fail.

Friends are great. Mentors are wonderful. There will always be heroes and legends that we look up to and learn from, but be your own hero. There will be times when you have to walk alone, and times when the people you love don’t understand you or your dream. “If you cheer for yourself as if the whole world is cheering for you, eventually they will.”

Don’t get me wrong, bad things happen every day all around the world…but so do good things. If you constantly listen to the news, argue about politics, and surround yourself with negative people and ideas, then it explains why you think the world is a terrible place. When you look for the bad, you’ll find it, and when you look for the good you’ll find it. Choose to find the people doing good, the acts of service, the helping hands, and you’ll realize the majority of the world is genuinely trying to make it a better place.

You can have all the goals and plans and huge audacious dreams in the world, but if you don’t have the drive and initiative to make them happen, they never will. You have to be willing to try, fail, learn, repeat, and work ridiculously hard to build the life you want. If it hasn’t happened it’s either because you quit or you just haven’t gotten there yet. Let your work ethic be as big as the dream.

We all have them, and sometimes they might be a bad week or a bad season, and not just a day. Life’s still good. There’s still more to look forward to, and it’s worth it to keep looking for the good and hoping for tomorrow. Find something to be grateful for and keep fighting through it.

Life happens, people move (or move on), and habits, circumstances, and personalities all change, which makes it difficult to stay friends, stay in relationships, or stay in touch. People will be in and out of your life all your life, and sometimes people will leave that you thought would stick by you forever. It never gets any easier, but learn to look for what they taught you while they were there, and not what they took when they left.

Stop worrying about the moments when you’re put to the test, and start using those moments to thrive. The only time you get to find out what you’re made of is when your back is against the wall. You have to take chances, fail, get back up, and make hard choices.

Buy the ticket, take the trip, do the scary thing, reach out to the person, and try something new. Trying and failing, constantly looking for opportunities, and meeting new people will teach you more than any form of education. Gaining life experience is the best way to experience life, and you’ll learn things you couldn’t ever find on the internet.

If you think you have to have something or do something before you can be happy, then you never will be. You’ll always want more, and nothing will ever be able to fill the void where happiness should already exist. If you can’t learn to find joy and pride and fulfillment in the life you currently have then you need to reevaluate your priorities. Matthew McConaughey said “joy is always in progress.” True joy is something you should constantly be looking for and always be able to find.

Those people that you think came out of nowhere and those massive accomplishments that you think “just happened” to them took years of hard work. Just because you didn’t see their trials, struggles, tears, and failures doesn’t mean they didn’t happen. If you want something you have to put in the work to get it. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is your success.

People are fighting for their lives. People are fighting for their dream. People are fighting for what they believe in. Some people are just fighting their own inner war. Everyone is walking a path you know nothing about and fighting a battle that you don’t understand. All the more reason to be kind and patient with everyone you meet, because you don’t know the motivations behind their actions.

Frustrated? Exhausted? Writer’s block? Feeling lazy? Literally going outside, going for a quick run, or taking a quick walk on the beach make a massive difference. You’ll clear your mind, move your body, and get inspired really quickly.

You can change the entire meaning of a sentence by adding the word “yet.” Instead of “I don’t know enough to do this" it’s “I don’t know enough yet.” Instead of “I’m not where I want to be” it’s “I’m not there yet.” Every negative thing you think about yourself can be flipped with the word. Make it your most used word, and you’ll start to realize how many possibilities actually exist for you.

Seriously. You have to make money, there’s bills to pay, etc. I get it, but life could also end tomorrow. It really is too short to be wasting your days doing a job you hate, punching a clock just to give your money away. Pay your bills, pay your taxes, and take care of your family, but try to do it with something you’re passionate about. You gotta do what you gotta do, but that doesn’t mean you have to do it forever.

The only thing you can control is you and your reactions. People won’t change unless they want to. If someone won’t listen to you at a normal decibel, they’re less likely to listen when you’re screaming at them. All you can do is love people well and live the example that you want to set. Hopefully they’ll come around, but don’t spend your life waiting for them to.

Lindsay Lohan said it best in Mean Girls. The only limits are the ones you create. If you believe you can do anything, then you eventually will. If you believe you’re stuck, then you are. If you believe you’re not good enough, then you never will be. Limited mindset creates limited results. There was once a time when the light bulb, the internet, and Netflix didn’t exist. Dream bigger, because you can.

Check out the Females on Fire Podcast for hundreds of episodes that will help you start creating the life of your dreams!

With relationships, your career, your effort, your time, you’ll get out of it what you’re willing to put into it. If you want a good relationship, you have give it the time and dedication it deserves. If you want a successful career, you have to put in the work and grit that it takes to build it. With anything you do, you have to give before you get. It’s your responsibility to fix the things in your life that aren’t where you want them to be.

”You will never win your war if you keep running from your battles.” - Trent Shelton
He’s right. If you keep walking through life running away from your fears, your issues, and the past experiences that you don’t want to confront, then you’ll never find what you’re looking for. That’s a lot of baggage to carry around for your life, and that baggage is going to keep you from being happy, fulfilled, and passionate about anything. Work through your own problems, and stop carrying them into your next fight.

You think when you become an adult you’ll have the answers. Then you think you need more experience to find the answers. Then you think you’re doing it wrong. The truth is, your parents, your friends, and your teachers didn’t have a clue either, and still don’t. None of us know what we’re doing because life didn’t come with instructions. We’re all just trying things and waiting on something to stick, so just give it your best shot and don’t beat yourself up over it.

Always be willing to help people when you can, but be over-protective of your time. Keep it well and you’ll reap the benefits. You can’t be everything for everyone, so learn to love the sound of your own voice saying no when you need to, and don’t let anyone make you feel bad for having to put yourself first sometimes.

If you have a gut feeling about something, you need to listen. No, you shouldn’t judge people you don’t even know, but if a situation doesn’t feel right or if you feel strongly that the choice is a bad one, then voicing your intuition and protecting yourself is the best decision you can make.

All your life people older than you will tell you that life goes by too fast. It’s because it’s true. You can’t hit pause, you can’t slow it down, and you never know how much time you have left, so you better make every single second count for something.