No ifs or butts

Life is hard.  It sometimes gives us fights that we never thought we could conquer, but it also has moments of pure happiness too.

I was on BBC Sheffield recently on a piece they do called ‘My Life So Far’ where I spoke about family, illness and the lessons I have learnt through my life.  One of the questions was ‘if you were to write an autobiography, what would it be called?’, my answer was ‘No ifs or butts’.  The reason is, firstly I love a pun and I no longer have a butt! The second was a more serious point in that I think we need to stop making excuses and take responsibility for our own life.  No one is going to come along and make your life full of rainbows and sparkles, no matter how tough things are, only you can make your life better.

There are lessons in life that we could all do with listening to now and again.  Here are mine…

Take full responsibility for yourself.

Success isn’t about money, it is about happiness.

Have a hobby that makes you happy

Find the people who make your soul happy and spend time with them.

Learn that some people are toxic, avoid them.

Read books and feed your mind.

Make time for the people who you love.

If you spend Sundays dreading going to work, you are probably in the wrong job.

Be yourself, don’t follow the crowd.

Travel whenever you can, it broadens the mind.  Explore your local area, travel doesn’t have to mean going to the other side of the world.

Accept your emotions, laugh when you’re happy and cry when you’re sad.

Say yes more.  Fear holds us back, say yes to things even if they scare you a little.

Look after you, make yourself a priority, you can’t help others if you are broken yourself.

Know that we are all struggling in our own way, you are not the only person who is anxious, scared and nervous.  Some just hide it better than others.

Just be nice.  Kindness is underrated, be open, loving and kind.

Don’t judge people based on their appearance but on the kindness of their soul

Be in the moment, over analysing is a sure way to make you sad.

Open your mind to new things, you are never too old to learn something new.

Life is short, live your dreams even if others don’t get it.

Accept that sometimes you will fail, but at least you tried!

Sam xx