You can only control YOU.

We are born alone, and we die alone.

Over our lifetime, we will be blessed to have some great souls join us along this journey and share exciting experiences, but at the end of the day, we are left with ourselves – our own thoughts, feelings and emotions; because of this, I believe it is critical that we get to know ourselves best.

I’m not going to give you a step by step guideline on what you need to do to accomplish a specific goal; nor am I going to tell you what to believe. I don’t actually have the answers for everyone; but I do have the answers for myself.

At least I think I do.

Maybe life, later down the track, will present me with a situation where I’m completely lost. Who knows? I’ll deal with it if/ when that day comes.

We live in a world where everyone believes they have the answer. They’ll even convince you to pay thousands of dollars for a seminar/ workshop/ program and guarantee you’ll be transformed by the end of it. I know that, because I’ve invested tens of thousands of dollars in these. Some have been great; others, not so much. But that’s beside the point…

I promise you, we all have the answer and none of us have the answer.

What I mean by that, is we create our own concepts of the world based on what we’ve experienced, what we’ve been taught and what we’ve learned ourselves (having an open mind and self-education will help you thrive in this area).

We may meet people along our journey who we find to have similar values and attitudes as we do, as opposed to those who don’t.

When you come across those who are completely different from you – whether those differences are mental or physical – learn to appreciate those differences. Don’t spend your time and energy trying to change things about them just because it doesn’t sit well with you.

Remember, you’re different in their eyes too.

Get to understand why you are the way you are.

Learn to understand why someone may be feeling the way they do, instead of attacking them for not feeling or behaving in a way you believe they “should” be.

Don’t force people to see things they refuse to see; and don’t force them to believe something they don’t want to believe.

Forcing anything upon anyone – regardless of how good your intentions may be – will only lead to resentment if things go wrong along the way.

You’re only in control of yourself.

You can only love people and show them you care. There are going to be so many people who can’t do that and won’t ever learn how to.

There are people in the world who will continue to hurt others for as long as they live. We see it every day – on the news, on social media or even see it happening with our own eyes.

We can spread awareness, but we can’t physically stop them from doing what they’re set on doing. If we focus our energy on trying to change something we have no control over, it’ll only leave us bitter too. I know this because I’ve been in that situation – and nothing is worth losing yourself over.

Be your own best friend. Know yourself. Know your strengths and weaknesses; your positive attributes and your flaws – and do the best you can.

You only have control over you.