PAIN is a gift.
It helps you refocus.
It teaches you to not make the same mistake again. Or you’ll receive even more pain.
You don’t need to seek out pain.
It will always come to you.
You need to ready yourself to handle pain.
If not, you end up inflicting pain and imposing burden on others.
Karma is a bitch.
You need to know how to pick yourself back up again.
You need to realize that only you will know how much that pain hurts, and that no one can take that pain away for you.
The pain is yours and yours alone.
It’s your responsibility to deal with your pain.
It’s also called baggage.
See how people these days avoid pain at all costs. They run from discomfort towards convenience, complacency, and the familiar.
They deny its existence, self medicate, seek magical guidance, temporary solutions, or blame others for their pain.
Misery loves company.
The saying goes, “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know.”
False. People give up on themselves and making the necessary changes to improve their lives.
Because it involves risk and pain.
You need to risk exposing yourself to pain if you want to grow.
Same as how muscles grow.
Same as how a lobster sheds its shell and molts.
Its shell gets too confining until it bursts out of its shell and then starts growing a new one.
When you break out of your shell, you’re vulnerable and weak for a while until you grow new armor.
You need to build your new self up and recognize that there will be more pain, but overcoming that pain makes you stronger.
“Strong” doesn’t mean acting invulnerable or emotionless.
Strength comes from the willpower to face both your demons and your fears, including appearing vulnerable.
It’s a daily practice. This is what they mean by “trust the process”.
The results only come over time, only if you put in the work, and only when you least expect them.
Or…
Just stay miserable and see how that goes.
Stay in your current state and see if you’re satisfied with your life.
At the end of our lives, the biggest regrets most commonly reported by people on their deathbeds are NOT doing the things they wish they had done.
Inaction.
Indecision.
Doubt.
Fear.
Laziness.
Settling.
You need to remove people around you who don’t want to see you succeed. If you can’t remove them, you need to remove yourself from their presence.
Headphones are a valuable tool and short-term strategy.
You need to surround yourself with only people who want you to win.
You need to surround yourself with highly motivated, capable people whose goals are so crazy high that yours seem easy to accomplish. They should feel the same about your goals.
You need people who will hold you accountable to your goals and vice versa.
You need people who will back you up and vouch for you, especially when you’re not in the room.
The same goes x1000 for a romantic life partner.
Don’t look for signs to check on your progress compared to others.
Social media is a bullshit indicator if someone is “living their best life”.
You can’t be shiny, happy and “glowing up” all the time.
People can post their “best moments” but actually be miserable.
They are often projecting how they’d like to feel or what they want others to think about them.
Fake smiles are worse than frowns because they are insincere and hide the truth.
Only you will really know deep inside how you’re doing.
Don’t bother yourself with how others are doing. It has no bearing on your progress.
Keeping up with the Joneses or the Kardashians is a fool’s game.
I only post real shit from experience.
It’s not for you. It’s for me.
But if you get something out of it, maybe you can gain some perspective or avoid making unnecessary mistakes. Help yourself before you try to help a friend or loved one out.
I’m not here to be anybody’s guru. You do you.
You have to figure it out for yourself anyway - nobody can do it for you.
I’m trying to figure it out for myself. Everyday.
— Art of Flux.
