Life is said to be too short, but most of us don’t feel it until we start nearing the end - only then do we really think about and regret our choices. Think about the following two questions: What was always your biggest dream, and did you realize that dream during your life?
If your answer to the second question is no, then we recommend that you review the following 13 signs and see if you are wasting your precious time. Once you learn to recognize the routines and customs that cause this, you can avoid them and start to fulfill your dreams actively and consciously.
Whether you sit every night and watch television for hours on end or spend your time in front of your computer skimming through a social network, you should start taking your life more seriously. Think about the way you choose to spend most of your free time and ask yourself if it somehow helps your life move forward and helps you become better - do your actions help you create a foundation for the future you want to live? If not, you probably need to re-evaluate your routine and make changes.
Some people, without even knowing it, hate their lives, and they don’t stop sharing this fact with others. Do you think you’re like that? Do you complain about your boss, your salary, or your noisy neighbors? If so, you probably don’t do anything but project negative energy into your environment, and negativity doesn’t help anything, it just makes you stuck. Change the way you think, and talk to your friends about the things you love in life, not about the things that are bothering you.
We don’t stop growing after puberty, and if you don’t continue to learn new things and improve your knowledge in old age, you will degenerate and stay stagnant, just like a still lake which becomes scummy - that's what happens to your brain if you don’t keep it active and teach it new things. Thought provoking challenges help you expand your knowledge and improve your thinking, so don’t avoid them even if learning something new seems like a difficult task - you have to be a little bad at first to get better.
Do you have a desire for something? There are many people who go to work every morning, go home, watch television and go to bed, and believe they have no passion for anything, but that's never the case. Each of us has something we enjoy doing which adds to our life, and you have to rediscover what excites you and put more of it into your life.
Sometimes our thoughts can ruin our day. Henry Ford said, "Whether you think you can or you think you can’t - you're right," which means that if you tell yourself that you are too exhausted to make a difference in your life, you're right because that's what you decided.
However, if you tell yourself you're smart and talented enough to get promoted or start your own business, you're also right. Whatever you tell yourself will become your reality, so be aware of your thoughts and adapt them to the life you want to live.
While it is recommended for each of us to live in the moment, sometimes we have to look into the future and make sure we are on the path we need to be on. If you don’t have a goal or a plan of some sort, you’re like a sailor on a boat sailing the sea without a sail expecting to get to a good place, but chances are that that won’t happen.
You have to create a plan of action which will help you reach your safe haven - just like choosing a destination on a GPS. Once you have a goal in mind, you’ll know which opportunities will take you to it.
It is very easy to get stuck with negative people who don’t help us feel that we are better people than we think we are. Sometimes, we even call these people friends, but it's important that you know that these people are pulling you down with them.
People like this are sometimes called "energy vampires" because they draw the spirit of life from others and do not give anything positive in return. Instead of spending too much time with such people, identify the friends and acquaintances who make you feel proud and happy, and surround yourself with them.
The smartphone is one of the most useful gadgets added to our lives in recent years, but you should be aware of the time you spend on it. Think about how the use of a smartphone affects your relationship in your home environment or while you're with friends; are you locked onto the screen at dinner with your family, or are you communicating with acquaintances while you sit for a cup of coffee with a friend? If so, you are missing out on the meaningful entertainment and intimate relationship with the people you love.
There is a big difference between "want" and "need," and certainly your parents tried to teach it to you at a young age. However, the line between these two has become very blurred in today's society, and some people fail to pay their mortgage but still manage to spend their money on non-essential products.
If you stop for a moment and think about it, you’ll find that there are very few things you really need in life; water, food, a home, and love are part of that list. All other things are extra, so think about your expenses and make changes accordingly.
You don’t have to be a doctor to know how important sleep is to our health. If you're awake till the early hours doing chores, you’re probably wasting your free time during the day on things that are not necessary. This is a bad habit that should be stopped because poor sleep can cause fatigue that will rob you of the desire to do the things you need to do to sustain your life.
Beyond the fact that adequate sleep is important for health, it is also necessary to keep the body active and maintain its health, just as you would your car. Your body is the vehicle that drives your soul, and you must help it stay healthy by eating a balanced, healthy diet and exercising, not just for weight loss, but to maintain its strength.
It will affect you mentally and change your attitude toward life. Start with small changes, and if you see that you persist in them consider increasing your efforts - the more you do to keep your health, the better your life will look.
It’s easy to stay in a comfortable place, but if we don’t take calculated risks in life, it’ll never be able to improve enough to satisfy us. Note that there is a difference between "risk" and "calculated risk", since just any risk can lead to a negative outcome, but a calculated risk is one in which our chances of achieving a positive outcome are higher. Just think of a plan of action and go with it wholeheartedly.
Success and happiness come hand in hand, because the way to test how successful a person is, is to measure his level of happiness. Do you feel happy? If not, you may need to make a significant difference in your life. Even feelings of satisfaction or contentment aren’t indicative of a life lived to the fullest - life needs to excite you! If you don’t enjoy your life, you have to make some changes that will lead you to a better place.
A few words to sum up
If these 13 signs sound familiar to you, don’t be discouraged. You can change your life, but first, you have to get rid of the little voice in your head telling you it's impossible. Most of the times our biggest obstacle is the pattern of thoughts in our heads, so start by making a linguistic change. Change your way of thinking and speaking and gradually the way you perceive and experience life will change as well.
