Lessons of my thirtieth year: part 1

So when I turned 30 I decided that i would start collating some of the important lessons I've learnt in my life. I'll try and put together the 30 top ones when I turn 31. This is the beginning...

What my thirtieth year has taught me so far...

1. Never say never! Life is very unpredictable and, even in the decisions we make, life can happen to us where and when we least expect it. The most important thing is to own your decisions and be strong in them. 

2. Life is great and terrible all at the same time and for the same reasons (equal and opposite direction reactions).

3. No-one can or will love you or understand you in the way you get yourself because no one has experienced your life like you have. 

4. I still need to learn a lot about self-assertion! I need to assert my agency to live out the adventures of MY life.

5. I need to learn to let go of the responsibility I feel for the happiness and joy of other people, except my children and those of my mother.

6. I need to learn to hear and listen apart from my ears. To learn that silence is not a negative space - it is NOt the absence of joy  or positivity

7. In so many ways you make the life you live through the decisions you make and those you choose not to make. Fear can keep you company and make you feel justified but will desert you as your companion when it counts the most. If you are driven by fear, you will crash at the sharp bends because fear itself is scared. If you're full of fear you will feel empty when it counts. I have learnt this but still have to learn to live with it.