5 Things About Life I Wish I Had Known 20 Years Ago #WordsMatter

A dose of wisdom arrives with every fine line! Yes, we learn more about life as we get older.

As I sit today and reflect, I realize that with passing years, I have learned quite a few things. Had I known them some 20 years ago, I would have made different choices, both in my personal and professional life. Here are 5 things about life I wish I had known 20 years ago…

1. Develop Healthy Eating Habits

20 years ago, I believed that I had a lifetime free pass to eat whatever junk I wanted and it wouldn’t affect my body in any visible adverse way. But now that I’ll be 50 in a couple of years, Boy! Does this fat love my body!?! The fat sticks to me for dear life!! And my best and sincere efforts to banish it, fail miserably. I wish, I had known 20 years ago that a healthy diet is important when you’re young. And that’s because, what you eat today has a big impact on your health tomorrow

2. Worry Less

Worry has been my middle name. I have spent sleepless nights worrying about big things like jobs during recession, rising inflation, health scare due to air pollution and small things like the tone of the email from the boss or about getting stuck in the traffic. I have imagined dire scenarios about all these big and small things. It’s only now that the greys in the head have made me realize that most of the imagined worst case scenarios never happened! I wish, I had known 20 years ago that worrying is pretty useless as it often gives a small thing a big shadow. And life usually turns out just fine.

5 Things About Life I Wish I Had Known 20 Years Ago

3. Let Go

For years, I have carried heavy baggage in my head. I have lived in the past for a long time. I have nurtured the hurt and resentments so much that they made me bitter. It was much later that I learnt that you can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one. I wish, I had known that letting go of things that pull you down will not only free you but give you peace and happiness too.

4. Enjoy the Journey

I have spent most of my life, ticking off things in my to-do lists. I crammed my day with obligations and responsibilities, and raced from one task to another like a worker bee and felt smug at the end of the day to see the accomplished tasks. It has taken 20 years to know that it is important to focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.

5. Maintain Quality Connections

Life gets busy and it runs at a faster pace after the 20s. I am seeing that so many of my friends from school, college, co-workers from earlier work places have slowly faded from my life. Relationships are a big part of our lives, yet it is one of the easiest things to neglect. I wish, I had stayed connected with a few of my good old friends. And that is because there is no better “fix” than having friends (more specifically girlfriends) to vent to, listen to, shop with, have lunch or a glass of wine with, support, or hold us up through a storm!

What are some of the life lessons you wish you had known 20 years ago?

I received this tag from Parul Kashyap Thakur at Happiness and Food. It’s my pleasure to pass on this tag to Vinay R from I Rhyme Without Reason. There are 29 of us on this Blog Hop and it will be spread over 3 days – 1st, 2nd and 3rd November. Do follow the #WordsMatter Blog Hop and prepare to be surprised!

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