#1-When you find yourself in a stressful situation, let's say at work, don't let it get to you and vent later. Working in the food industry for six years has made me the best stress handler in the world! Well, almost...what I mean is, if you can handle customer service in the food industry, you can handle pretty much anything. You will get the rudest, most ungrateful customers who are paying for food that you have to make, and even if it's the best thing you've made in your life, they still find something wrong with it. Why? Because that's how some people are, they only want things at one price: FREE. So if that means making an ass of themselves, they'll do it and you have to grin and bare it. That doesn't mean you can't vent later, especially over a drink or two with close co-workers and friends :) Yes, that's my secret. I handle stress extremely well because of the choices I make when dealing with work situations. Just remember to breathe and set the problem aside in your mind until you clock out! Then cuss those damn customers out all you want to your buds, they'll understand...or at least goof off long enough to make you forget about your bad day :)
#2- When dealing with arguments or sticky situations with friends, stay true to yourself. I have lost a few friends over the last four years and that was mainly my own choice. Everyone grows up and settles into who they are as people after high school graduation. Whether or not you can continue your relationship with some of your friends is all determined on what you want out of your life. In my case, there was way too much drama going on and I had to reevaluate how I saw myself and then make my decision on what step to take next. I felt that the best thing for me would be to cut ties with these friends, because no matter who the problem was (yes WHO), the relationship between us was going to stay rocky unless someone made a change. My choice was to end the friendships and move on. Others may do things a little differently, but the main thing to remember is to be yourself and not to change to make others happy or to make relationships of any kind work. Not saying that a little leeway here and there isn't ok, but make sure your morals and the way you want to live your life are not being compromised, otherwise it might be time to say buh-bye.
#3-When things don't go your way, don't be a bitch and just go with it. This is the life lesson I'm still learning because when I plan things out, I always expect them to go the way I want them to go. I can tell you right now, this is the biggest mistake you can make. I am worse than a girl the week before "shark week" when things don't go like I've planned them. This is why I'm lucky to have the boyfriend that I have. Yes, he can be a jerk sometimes but he keeps it real. If I'm being a bitch over something I can't control, he's going to call me out on it. Do I get pissed off at him? Hell yes. Do I get over it? Absolutely. He taught me this lesson and it is one of the most life-changing experiences you will ever go through if you like details and controlling situations. I still slip occassionally, but whenever things go wrong, I take a step back for a minute and evaluate. I think "Am I overreacting or could this have been controlled?" It's all about how you take the situation. In the end, when you can't control something, you need to just go with it and if you still have the urge, freak out about it later.
#4-Give yourself some "me" time, even if it compromises hanging out with friends. I am an excellent customer service person because I like to work and for some reason I'm really good with people. However, I don't have that many friends. I've always been more of a quiet, keep-to-myself kind of person until I get to know someone. But honestly, I think at the age I am now, I realized that I'm just tired of people. This probably explains why I decided to go in a completely different direction and work at a Vet clinic instead of pursuing more education to become a teacher...Anyway, back to my point, whether you have a ton of friends that you see all the time or just a select few, always make time for yourself. It's a good thing to get away from people and work and develop a solo hobby that you enjoy doing. It gives you time to enjoy yourself as a person. I may not have a psychology degree, but I think if more people took the time to find out what they enjoy doing by themselves, they would be a little happier. For example, I love locking my bedroom door, cranking the music up on my iPod, and dancing around my room. Do I share this fact with people? No I don't, but I'm sharing it now as an example. Any emotions that build up in me, I can let go of when I'm messing around, dancing solo in front of my half-size mirror on my closet door. Do something that makes you happy for you, even if it's weird and you think people will judge you for it. Nobody cares if you don't tell them, plus it's you time, not you and them time.
#5-Enjoy your life, the way it is now, even if you want more out of it later. There have been many, many times where I wish I had more going on right now in my life or that things would move quicker to get to where I want to be. I was in such a rush that I didn't realize life was passing me by and I wasn't enjoying what I have now because I was too worried about getting to the next phase in my life. This is another reason why I started this blog. Just like lesson 3, I'm still learning this one. However, I make a little more progress every day just by writing in this blog or making sure I'm not just coming home after work and going to sleep. I'm trying to make the most of what I have now, which is a little difficult sometimes because it's like having an itch you can't scratch. But I need to relax. Relaxing is the key, because if you're going and going and going all the time, you miss out on things that you would never know were there. So slow down, look around you, and remember what's most important. Keep working at your goals but remember, some things need more time than others and everything will fall into place when it's meant to.
As always, feel free to leave comments about this blog. What kind of life lessons have you learned? Not sure yet what I'll be writing tomorrow, but I may give the "101" list a rest for the weekend.
KNG: :)
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