This month, I am 40.
To celebrate this milestone, here are 40 nuggets of wisdom I’ve accumulated from my time on the planet:
1. ‘Lean into’ routines when things get tough.
2. Try to focus on being creative in all that you do — keep accessing this place of creativity.
3. Set your creations free into the world. You never really know how they will be perceived, or who else they might inspire or help.
4. Let go of ideas of how something ‘should’ be done — find your authentic way.
5. Continue to reach out and share challenges — this helps you and others. Listen to yourself and what you need.
6. You can find adventure where you are.
7. Take the past, present and future forward with you — in yourself and in your things.
8. Things always get even a tiny bit better.
9. Use the ‘5% rule’. If doing something leads to a 5% improvement then it’s worth doing. Lots of 5%’s add up!
10. Acknowledge all feelings and ask what they can teach you. Work through them, try to process them and come through them.
11. Investing in learning and experiences gives you a high greater than purchases! It’s a much better happiness ROI.
12. Don’t be afraid to let the blocks of your old life go down and use them to rebuild the new.
13. Money invested in yourself is the best use of it and leads to the most fulfilment.
14. Channeling your brain into learning energises and inspires you and helps you to see completely new possibilities.
15. Put good stuff into your mind and your brain will work on it.
16. Spend time with people who are ambitious and going places.
17. Drinking too much ruins the whole next day and upsets the balance!
18. Choosing to be alone is different from being lonely.
19. You’re human. It’s ok to struggle. People reach out in wonderful and unexpected ways.
20. Keep reading, listening, reflecting — contribute to your introspective layer.
21. Note down the small moments and successes each day to help you remember and reflect. Life is rich.
22. It’s always ok to be kind to yourself.
23. Continue to find gratitude in the small things.
24. Keep moving forward but also thinking forward.
25. Go slow, rest, recover and new energy will naturally emerge.
26. Work is part of you, not who you are.
27. You can use negative experiences to propel you towards positivity.
28. Things really do come out of nowhere.
29. You are resilient. You can turn things into opportunities.
30. No-one, not even you, knows what your life will become, but only you can create it.
31. It may be harder to travel physically, but you can travel in your mind. Learning is the new day trip!
32. You never know who you’re inspiring or helping, just by being you. Be you.
33. There’s a certain peace in the space before the new.
34. What do you take from year to year, life stage to life stage? Physically, emotionally, mentally?
35. Maintain a long and broad-range view of your life to help retain a sense of perspective.
36. Leave behind regret, but take the learning.
37. The same energy is either a loop of despair or a loop of creativity — it’s how you use it.
38. It is essential to completely detach and break the intensity from everything — good or bad.
39. Focus on meaningful endings as well as meaningful beginnings.
40. The end of something is also always the beginning of something eg a decade!
