18+ Lessons From 18 Years On Earth
What I’ve learned from eighteen trips around the Sun. 🛸
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I’ve traveled around the Sun eighteen times on a floating blue rock — Earth.
When I turned eighteen last week, I started to reflect on the biggest learnings I’ve collected during my time on this planet.
I tried to choose my top 18, but there were so many knowledge nuggets I wanted to document + share that I ended up with 23.
Here are 18+ lessons I’ve learned from my 18 trips around the Sun:
1. Take ownership of your life. You are in control.
Our life is in our control once we decide to take ownership of it.
We have the power to control what we think about, where we focus our energy, what/who we surround ourselves with…
We can control many internal factors and influence external ones.
I’ve learned the importance of focusing on what is in my control. Anything I don’t have control over, I can choose how I react to it.
If a situation isn’t going well (e.g., a group project), I can take ownership of it and figure out what I can do to change the trajectory of it.
I’ve started to treat my life like my biggest project. I lead the project because it’s my life. Where I choose to focus my energy is what will determine the direction of my life and I have control of that.
Something I tell myself often is “think like an astronaut.”
I aspire to go to space one day and I remember when Chris Hadfield told me to start thinking like an astronaut now.
Astronauts have to focus on what they control and then figure out what’s the next best thing they can do to influence a situation.
Now when I feel like I’m overwhelmed, I take a step back and remind myself to think like an astronaut.
2. All we have is the present. 🎁
Someone once told me that life is made up of moments. The past and the present don’t really exist. We only have now, so make the most of it.
