What I learnt in 2022

“Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you.”

Cecelia Ahern, “Thanks for the Memories”

The turn of the year is a good time to do some reflections on life in general. The past year or two have been challenging for me, but it is through pains that we all grow. Indeed, there is a lot of wisdom in author Michael Hopf’s quote: “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times”

A few things I have learnt through these times:

• Minimizing regrets: we all know that life is short, but through the past two years I have realized even more so that time is our most valuable asset. Instead of following others’ expectation of us, we should think clearly about life goals, and utilize our time wisely to accomplish these goals. We will probably not be able to achieve all our of life goals, but what is the most important is that we proactively try and we don’t regret. It is rather uncommon for people at my age to think about death, but an Australian nurse Bronnie Ware (who works in palliative care) shared in her blog about the regrets of dying (link). It is a fascinating sharing, and she ends the post by saying “Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.”
• Living in the moment: this is easier said than done. The reality is full of challenges and worries, and it is inevitable for us to live with worries, whether it is something personal, professional, etc. However, it is important to remember that there are many good things in life too – family, friends, partners, and so on, and we shouldn’t take these for granted. Treasure what we have, live in the moment, and spend that quality time with our family and loved ones.
• Adopting a sustainability mindset: what I mean here is applying a sustainability philosophy towards business, towards friendships, towards personal development, and towards life. Sustainable businesses and sustainable relationships mean treating our customers, partners, friends, and family fairly, such that healthy and meaningful relationships can be formed in the long run. In the book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” (link), author Stephen Covey refers to it as the balance between P (Production) and PC (Production Capacity): to illustrate with an example, if we treat our friends / customers unfairly for once, we may gain an unfair advantage (ie. more Production) in the near term, but we are actually ruining the business relationship / friendship (ie. destroying the Production Capacity) in the long run. The same applies to personal development and personal health: treat our mind and body fairly, so that it can grow with us and help us achieve our goals in the long run.

These are just among a few things I have learnt and realized in the recent past. I am hoping to use this blog to share more about personal development and life explorations in the future, while connecting with a wider audience / network.

Photo credit: photographer Niklas Weiss