Words to live by

You know those phrases you hear and you just sort of go like “oh”? The ones that kind of change your perspective, even if just a little bit? And then you try and live by them, even if you fail miserably at least half of the time? These are some of those phrases for me – my words to live by!

Act towards others as you’d want them to act towards you

It’s called the golden rule for a reason, you know? Even if just for the petty reason that this means you can sometimes have the moral upper ground? These are definitely some good words to live by!

Try your best each day, start anew each morning

For anything from good intentions, to daily goals, to new year’s resolutions, this one goes always. You see, the one thing I always do – and when I say always, I do mean always, is this: I fail on little thing. Like, a little hick-up kind of thing. And then my mind just sort of goes “oh well, I failed already, might as well do a 180”. So then I suddenly find myself having eaten 28 twix as well as 3 pieces of garlic bread, pizza ànd 3l of cola zero in two days. And yes that happened to me. Just a couple of weeks ago, actually – those exams messing with my brain, you know.

Anyways, I’m trying to break myself free from that sort of thinking. Because quite frankly? It doesn’t do anybody any good. It makes you entirely too hard on yourself, more prone to giving up and just in general messes with your mind. So give yourself a break, and give yourself a new chance each morning. No matter what happened the days or weeks before, tomorrow is a new chance. Grab it – and give yourself that chance.

You are not what you do

Because you do something stupid doesn’t make you stupid. Because you mess up doesn’t make you a mess-up. You are so much more than what you do. And what you do doesn’t define you.

I actually got this one from my religion teacher when I was 15 (Mr Deheegher, if you’re reading this: I was listening!). It was one of the few things which he told us just about every class, one of the few things he really wanted to make stick. Exactly because this really is that important.

You see, if what you do was what you are, that would mean good intentions had no value. Messing up would be all you were. And I refuse to believe that. You are not what you do. What you do is just one of many, many ways in which you express yourself.

You’re nearly there. You’re good enough

I want to get these words tattooed someday. You are always nearing your goals, your ideas, your final destination. And no matter how far they may seem, no matter how little you seem to reach them? You’re nearly there. And you’re good enough to get there, to deserve them.

To live would be an awfully big adventure

This one is technically also coming up in my upcoming my “favourite literary quotes”-posts, but I just love it that much. As in, this is another one I want to get tattooed someday-much. Because as much as life is something absolutely terrifying to me? Living really is the biggest adventure. So let’s start living it 🙂

-Saar