As people, we all are trying to cleanse our souls, rid our lives of negativity, and release weight off of our shoulders. No one likes suffering, no one likes feeling down, no one likes polluting their lives with things that make themselves feel less than―so why do we allow ourselves to continue to do it? Why do we allow oursleves to continue to hurt? We need to extract the crushing weight of what makes us feel disappointed. We need to further ourselves and our own happiness, for once. It's time to give some things up. They won't be easy, they may not even be possible, but it's important to have them on the back burner of your mind.
1. Self-doubt
We've all heard the phrase "The only person holding you back is yourself," and it couldn't be more true. If you put into your head that you can't prove something, do something, be something, you won't. The number one person you listen to is yourself and what you think. You need to begin to set your goals as high as what your self-esteem should be.
2. Fear
We miss out on so many things in life because we're scared. Whether that's moving out of the house you grew up in, travelling abroad, skydiving, or even texting him first. Fear can be crippling, and you can't let something other than your own self have that strong of a grip over your actions. Take your life into your own hands.
3. Procrastination
I cannot stress this enough―procrastination can quite literally ruin your life. It's the hardest thing to get ahold of, because it's so, so easy to slack off and just bingewatch another episode of How to Get Away with Murder instead of completing that project, assignment, scholarship application. Sure, laying in your bed doing nothing feels incredible, but it's much, much more relaxing doing it after you've taken care of everything you need to do for the week. It's best to try to grab ahold of this bad habit before you move on to a professional adult world where it could seriously damage your career.
4. Trying to please everyone
Have you ever heard the quote, "You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world, but there will always be someone who hates peaches"? It's true. No matter how much we all would like it to be false, there's physically no way to make every single person in your life, or even outside of your life, happy. Everyone has their own sense of right and wrong, their own opinions on life and beyond, and their own attitudes towards things that go against either of those. It can be really devastating to who you are to always feel as though you fall short of what is expected of you, so you need to just not be concerned with any other opinion of yourself than your own.
5. Criticizing
You don't like it when others criticize you, so don't do it to others. That's basically a lesson we have been taught since we were children. However, it can expand far beyond just treating others with respect. Don't criticize yourself, other than to keep yourself in line. Don't walk around seeing everything in a negative light. Don't wake up in the morning, dreading that it's Monday. If you only criticize life, you'll never see the beauty.
6. Complaining
Complaining is such an easy tick for all of us. It's so easy to complain about our terrible day at work, how hard classes have become, financial struggles, or literally any minor inconvenience to come our way. But similar to criticizing, constantly complaining about basically everything can damage your positive outlook on life, and what kind of life would that be?
7. Comparing yourself
There will never, ever be another you. You are as precious as gold. You have to start treating yourself that way. The beauty of another person in no way lessens the beauty of yourself. It's not mutually exclusive. Instead of seeing where you believe you fall short, instead, reflect on where you soar. See your weaknesses only as things you can strive after to improve.
8. Anything you can't change
Normally, all people tell you is to accept what you can't change. But why would you? Who is to say something can't be changed? If you start accepting whatever it is that is apparently unchangeable, you'll start deciding for yourself what can't change, even if it honestly could. Never accept a "can't," and never listen to anyone who tells you to.
9. Gossiping
Let's reflect back on middle school and high school. We all remember how people would whisper in the hallways, or honestly even blatantly speak loud enough for the person they're gossiping about to hear. You remember what it was like to have things said about you behind your back by strangers, or even people you had once considered friends. Don't do that to others. Don't let that feeling be passed on to another person.
10. Letting others get to you
As I've said before, the only opinion of you that should matter to you is your own. Disregard what others say about how you should be living your life or what you should be doing with your time. If you spend your time concerned with what others are thinking about you, you have no time to focus on how you think about you. You are what matters, so remember that as their voices try to fight their way into your mind. You are who you have to live with throughout the rest of your life, so it's important to make yourself into someone you love, not someone haunted by gossip.
