Life-Lessons | Reflections
5 Important Lessons I Learned in 2024
Learn from my insights
This year is coming to an end, I hope that your Christmas was good and that you didn’t get some bad gifts. Each new year, I find that I’m a drastically different person than before, and I see this as a strength.
It’s an occasion to slow down and reflect on what we have gone through this year, and what the lessons were.
That’s exactly what I’m going to do in this article, and you will learn from my lessons and insights.
So, without further ado, let’s start.
1. Most of the time, discipline is not willpower
I used to rely heavily on my willpower. I used it to go to the gym, help my family, work, study, and do the necessary habits, and every day felt like a marathon.
Most days, I wouldn’t be able to do all of my habits because of procrastination or fatigue.
You can call me lazy, but there is real science behind it. I won’t enter into the details, but in summary, willpower is a limited energy, so using it for everything isn’t sustainable.
What I learned, and it’s mostly from the book Atomic Habits, is that you don’t have to rely on willpower to get your good habits done and avoid the bad ones.
A powerful trick is to change your environment.
Put the water bottle next to you, place books all over the house, and hide the sugary foods somewhere in the kitchen so that they don’t trigger your craving.
Self-discipline is the result of a smart environment.
2. Everything eventually passes, even happiness
Throughout this year, I experienced a cocktail of emotions, ranging from extreme happiness to grief and resentment.
What I noticed, though, is that every emotion, whether good or bad, I experienced will eventually pass.
You may not like it when you read that even happiness fades away. But that’s life, and we should accept it as it is to feel at peace. There is no sense in trying to defy our nature.
When I had surgery last summer, the pain taught me that the key to a good life is accepting whatever life throws at you with a smile.
Remember, everything will eventually pass.
3. A friend who shares your interests is worth more than a thousand shallow friends.
These last three years I felt empty. I didn’t have what I consider ‘real’ friends, but just some shallow people that I used to talk to in school to not be alone.
Honestly, I didn’t like them, they were very different from me, the typical high schoolers who play video games and watch TikTok all day. Our conversations were made of small talk about grades, and games.
Fortunately, this year, I was able to meet one guy named Baker who’s a very funny person. What I liked about him is that he’s very open to discussing any subject, in contrast to my previous “friends”.
I felt like I had a boost, not a big one, but there is the feeling that I’m not alone anymore in this journey.
That’s when I learned that just one real friend is enough to make you happy.
4. You can trick yourself into becoming a certain person
Who would have thought I would be writing Medium articles about self-improvement and philosophy?
Certainly not my parents, or my relatives, or my friends.
I changed a lot. I didn’t love writing or reading. It felt like hell to me. It wasn’t until I learned about the huge benefits of books that I decided to start adopting those habits.
At first, it was hard and exhausting. Reading 5 pages of a book felt like a marathon. Writing? It was hell on earth for me.
But I forced myself, I changed my environment as I said in the first lesson, and every day I used affirmations like “I’m a writer and an avid reader.”
Eventually, results began to appear. I grew attached to the smell of books. and the texture of the pages. I loved how I felt when I was writing my articles.
It became gradually my identity, and I even put “writer” as a bio on my social media accounts.
The lesson is: The brain is very malleable, thus you can shape it to become the person you want to be. It just takes practice, effort, and some thoughtful brain tricks.
5. There is nothing wrong with doing nothing
Ahhhh, the hustle culture. Achieving more by doing more, right? Fill every minute with productive tasks, this seems familiar to most people.
We live in an era where working till you die is rewarded. This is obviously bad and has led people to be disconnected from their selves.
But the problem isn’t just about work. Many people try to fill every empty minute with hits of dopamine from social media, junk food, or shallow entertainment.
This year, I said NO to this trend and I have decided to incorporate a period of silence in my schedule.
Literally, I have time where I just sit idly, savoring the present moment. I embraced meditation, and I can say that my new reading habit has probably helped me to get used to less stimulation.
Sometimes, I go on long walks to relax my brain after a demanding task, and it’s infinitely better than trying to unwind your brain by watching Netflix or scrolling.
During those periods of silence:
- I get ideas for my writing, and life in general.
- I reflect on my week.
- I meditate on my thoughts.
It is now one of the most important habits of my day.
Final Thoughts
As we prepare to turn the page on another year, I encourage you to take a moment to pause and reflect. What experiences shaped you this year? What moments made you stronger, wiser, or more compassionate?
Life’s greatest lessons often come wrapped in unexpected challenges, quiet revelations, or fleeting joys, and it’s worth the effort to uncover them.
Thank you for joining me on this journey of reflection. May the new year bring you peace, growth, and happiness. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!
Thank you for reading!
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