There’s no question that life is an unpredictable ride. I’m sure there isn’t anybody you can think of who hasn’t had to navigate through something challenging. Hindsight is where we can take lessons from the tough stuff we experience. It’s important that we learn from what we undergo in life because these events can transform into teachings to guide as we move forward. Whether it’s learning or unlearning a few things, let’s explore some ideas that will hopefully be helpful when it comes to living our best life in 2025.
You are important and you matter.
This is lesson number one for me because I think it’s something we can easily forget. Especially as we age, we can mistakenly believe that we’re not important, that we’re irrelevant and we don’t matter. But it couldn’t be farther from the truth. If we have breath, we are important and we matter, regardless of our age. Sure, our priorities change as we get older and that’s a good thing. It’s a time in our life when we’re investing in what’s important to us and no longer focused solely on other people’s needs and their feedback to feel good. While prioritizing ourselves might feel like we’re being selfish, there’s a companion lesson here: when we take good care of ourselves, we’re better able to take care of others.
“The biggest lesson is to keep going and almost never look back.”
– hockey goaltender, Maxime Lagacé
Don’t Live in the Past.
The only thing we know for sure is the present. How many times have we heard that? It is true that the past no longer exists and what we’re thinking about are our memories of the past or rather our version of the past. Sometimes we embellish our memories and either feel bad about the way we remember events or glorify the past and long for what was. All we can do is learn from whatever happened and apply those lessons to our life today. If you have a regret about something from your past, know that it’s just a reminder that you’re human. It’s better to let it go than to resist feelings of regret because what we resist persists and we’re all capable of learning and growing. Sometimes talking through regrets with a friend or trusted advisor can put things in proper perspective. Let’s not let memories of the past impede our enjoyment of the life we have in front of us and our future possibilities.
“The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that hurt people hurt people, and kindness is just as contagious. So, if you can focus your efforts on engineering kindness, it will prevail.”
– founder of Bumble, Whitney Wolfe Herd
Be Kind.
Sometimes the simplest life lessons are the toughest to apply. Because we’re human, we’re wired for safety, and fear plays a major role when it comes to us feeling protected from danger. We’re not always sure of others’ intentions and because fear is so powerful, we can mistake kindness for weakness. It’s even true of ourselves. We’ve been conditioned, I say, conned into believing that strength is being tough when the truth is that our real strength is in our ability to be vulnerable. Learning to be kind toward ourselves takes us back to lesson number one: it’s the recognition that we are important, and we matter. Keep in mind that how you speak to yourself about yourself and how you speak to others about yourself is important because what you put out there is what will be returned to you. Keep kindness top of mind when you’re doing business with others too; it’ll make a difference for everyone and trust me, kindness is a gift that keeps on giving. When we’re kind to others, we feel good thanks to kindness hormones like oxytocin, it helps with blood pressure and ultimately our kindness influences others to be kind as well.
“When you share your story and become vulnerable, the ripple effect and the people that you can help along the way is a life lesson.”
– Sophie Gregoire Trudeau
Don’t Worry, Be Happy.
This is another way of saying that we should focus our resources and attention on what’s important in life today. There will always be situations that don’t go to plan, people who don’t measure up to our expectations, or having our words and actions disappoint others. The key here is to remember that what other people do and say reflects something in them and has nothing to do with us. We give power to the wrong thing, when we’re focused on how other people disappoint us. While we can’t control life events and other people’s actions, we can control our response to life events and other people’s actions. Worrying about what other people might do or what might happen is like praying for what we don’t want. It’s far more productive to focus on what we do want and take small steps in that direction. This way we take power away from worry and create more space for peace.
“He has not learned the first lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear.”
– Poet and writer, John Dryden
Make Play Part of your Day.
Nobody teaches children how to play. Every day they wake up ready to engage in as much fun as possible, using their beautiful imaginations to create magical experiences. We know that play is beneficial for their cognitive function as well as their physical, emotional and social well-being. We encourage kids to play for those reasons and we overlook the fact that maintaining a playful mindset is helpful in the same way for adults. Whether it’s sports, board and card games, puzzles, acting, dancing or singing, we’re reducing stress, nurturing connection, emotional well-being and keeping our beautiful brain challenged and alert. You can double the fun by pairing up older people with younger people. Intergenerational play is fun for everyone.
“The biggest lesson I learned this year is not to force anything, conversations, friendships, relationships, attention, love. Anything forced is just not worth fighting for, whatever flows flows, what crashes crashes.”
-entrepreneur, Amanda Rose
Don’t Force Anything
This may be one of the hardest won lessons of the bunch. We humans love our control. We like it when life goes the way we want it to. We like it when people like us and when they do what we think they should do. We’re frustrated when people don’t do what we expect them to or heed the advice we offer. This human experience has its joys, and control does not fuel that feeling. All it does is produce anxiety. It’s good to keep in mind that every person has their journey in life and lessons to go along with it. We’re not in charge of anybody else’s experience and simply accepting this important truth will give us more energy and peace as we navigate our own life adventure. Another aspect of this to keep in mind is that not everyone will like us regardless of our talents or our generosity. As challenging as it is, it’s more important to be true to ourselves than to seek approval from others.
“Life changes for the better when we realize that we don’t have to know everything, and we don’t have to pretend that we do.”
– author and business leader, Simon Sinek
These life lessons are a reminder that we’re not alone; we’re all in this together and with some encouragement, we can shift our perspective to improve our circumstances. Our open mind and our willingness to learn give us the power to enrich our lives and shape our experience for the better. Here’s to our best year in 2025