2022 taught me big life lessons even if I thought that the previous seven years were already had. 2022 has opened a lot of doors for me and by far the year that answered all of the questions that the previous years have asked.

2022 has been the most difficult yet the most freeing one.

1. Trust that God has plans for me and they don’t have to make sense even to me.

There was a point in my spiritual awakening journey where I used to question every single thing that’s happening to me and I always looked for someone to blame why I wasn’t happy, at peace and content with my life. Now I realized that I was just being tested if I can live the life that I said I want.

Here my patience has been tested on a different level and I have proven that everything is temporary even my pain.

2. My strengths are in my struggles.

My life changed since I started noticing that I have emotionally healed, made peace with my past and showed up for my inner child. The struggles didn’t stop but I realized that I am facing them with a version of me that already understands that life itself is a beautiful challenge and it is up to me and how I’d use everything that I have learned to face what lies in front of me that none of my previous experiences made me sure of how my tomorrows would look like.

Those experiences however made me realize that the hardships and obstacles that I have faced mostly alone that every time I am faced with challenges, I can only remind myself of what I had to face in the past that made me ready to face more that are about to come.

I noticed that every time I feel stressed and uncomfortable and would throw fit and start crying out of frustration, I’d have more conversations with myself and remind myself that this stressful and challenging situation is an invitation to grow, it changes how I’d feel about a certain uncomfortable situation.

That every time I’d see myself standing amidst a situation I would normally fear, I’d remind myself that I am out here to prove that my fears are all big liars, the more that I am motivated to face my fears. The more fears I face, the more that I feel that I am growing even if there are times that I don’t really realize it right away.

3. I am who I am.

Going back to school this year after spending a lot of time with myself, finding myself, working on myself, working on my passion and life purpose, and being surrounded by a lot of different people has been the biggest challenge for me not to mention the fact the language.

It is not just the information and complicated language that overwhelms and drains me but the energy of the people who seem to feel so lost in life and not happy and content where they are. It is not my job to mind their personal issues and I can live without having to open my mouth the whole day but even that made me have problems even if I am giving my best.

I know that I am doing my best and as long as I am doing my best and not hurting anyone, no opinion of other people of how I should be living my life matter to me.

I am so proud of myself for keeping a safe distance from other people and protecting my privacy and energy which I failed to do in my old life where I thought everyone was my friend and that it’s my job to make other people happy and comfortable.

4. Do the things that I love more.

I am spending more time with other people but even when I am still learning how to be more out there, that’s with the exemption that that will only work if it’s in alignment with my new life principles. Though my schedule has started becoming crazy, I am loving every second of it for spending so much time alone especially during corona time made me realize that I am still young and still have a long way to go.

New things are waiting for me to try. New memories are waiting for me to create. New people are waiting out there to be my friends. New countries and places are waiting for me to explore. My soulmate is out there waiting for me to meet.

I have the power to create the life that I love living indeed and for this fact, I will always be grateful.

5. Celebrate the good times more.

Why do I remember all of the depressing times more than the times I had fun or when I had something to be happy about? This was one of the biggest questions that I was able to answer in 2022 especially when I flew home and our daytime was longer there.

I was tempted to work on finishing the book I’d said I finish or come up with more blog articles or podcast episodes but I said eff it. I would let all the good feelings marinate. To hell with productivity guilt and it has started becoming a habit too now. I am allowing myself to not work or do anything when I feel that I have succeeded in even my smallest endeavor.

I am allowing myself to pause for as long as my heart and soul wants and let the beautiful feeling overtake my whole body. I need not to go straight to the next big thing on my list of goals I want to achieve. This has done so much magic on my nervous system. This has taught me to calm down, slow down and be okay with not doing anything.

S2Ep11: Dr Sophia Godkin-The Happiness Doctor on Childhood, Mental Health and Questions she gets as a Psychologis t

This stopped me from feeling guilty when I am not overworking and just doing nothing. I thought, I allowed myself to sit with my depression for years, why can’t I sit with my little wins for one more day or one more week? This has taught me to celebrate even my littlest wins more and longer. I am proud of myself and I know that I can trust myself. I am capable of doing hard things.

6. Protect my heart but feel all my emotions.

I looked forward to going back tot school but the education system here in Germany is different than from I am used to. I am not just spending time in the school learning theories. I am spending almost the same number of hours in the field applying what I have learned and learning from the experts by observing how they are doing it and providing extra hands. Not only that, I am also continuing my language course.

With all of the time all these are asking from me, I am still surprised that my inner voice still whispers and still throws a fit when I don’t sit to listen to it every single day. I was under the impression that having other things stuff going in my life would somehow make my hormonal inner voice shut up but I guess I needed to accept more that I am married to my writer self and that I will be a writer until my last breath.

I need to come to terms with the fact that I am the kind that overfeels and whose feelings need to be validated whether they’re true or not. I am the kind whose thoughts need to find their way out of my body through writing whether someone reads them or not to protect my heart, my sanity and prevent myself from projecting to other people.

By feeling my emotions and sitting with my thoughts, I am learning to be with myself and love myself more even if there are times that I think I am a mess. By feeling all my emotions I am learning to love and accept my humanity and that it is okay to feel.

7. The Universe got my back.

God loves me and there’s no reason for me to think that I was sent to this lifetime to only experience the worst things that life can possibly offer me. Everyday is a chance for me to prove that life is good and that miracles indeed happen on a daily basis no matter how little they are.

The mere fact that I am here in this lifetime is enough for me to feel loved and supported and think that every thing is possible for me. I just have to want it so bad. The mere fact that I am here now is enough for me to realize that I am deserving of all the best things this life has to offer and for this, I am truly grateful.

Dear 2022,

Thank you so much.

Dear 2023,

I am so excited for you.

This Village Girl

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone

7 Big Life Lessons 2022 Taught me