Pursuit Of HappYness – 10 life lessons i learnt on a trip i took on my birthday

6 new places. one birthday celebration. 16 days of madness. 2875 meters above sea level, 10 life lessons.

This year around my birthday i decided to take a trip.

I have always believed that life teaches us a lot of lessons. So in the spirit of turning one year older and wiser, i made a conscious effort to seek out as many lessons as i could learn from this trip.

Throughout my journey i kept note of the things i learnt/discovered/felt/thought about. I was in 6 different places, with some people i knew, some old, some strangers and some new friends. learning something from everyone. And here i am sharing some of the scribblings from my journal along with some pictures (okay more than some) from the trip i took on my 25th birthday (yes i am 25 years old now. and no it doesn’t feel any different from 15)

10 life lessons which might help you on your pursuit of happyness

Lesson #1 –

Learn to be by yourself. Learn to love your own company. Understand yourself. Dont be scared of being alone.

Lesson #2

Stop apologizing for the person you are. Its okay to be what you want to be, to say what you want to say, to do a certain things you wanna do. As long as you are not hurting anyone – Just be yourself and stop saying sorry for every small thing.

Lesson #3

Think about things. Try to understand each and every perspective. Don’t judge. Understand.

Lesson #4

Pamper yourself. And them some more. Don’t wait for someone else to do things for you. Do them yourself. Make yourself happy. Make yourself a priority. Love yourself more than anyone.

Lesson #5

Who are you when no one is looking? Who are you without your friends, your family? Find out. Do you like this person? Do you need to change? Be the change you want to see in the world.

Lesson #6

Have faith. It all works out. Things will get bad before they get real good. Hold on and have faith.

Lesson #7

People will always lie and hide things from you. Expect it. no one’s got your back except yourself. No one is gonna be your knight in shining armour. Be that for yourself. Protect yourself and stand by yourself even if no one else does. But dont push people away. Love like crazy. Be a hopeless romantic. Because life is nothing without some good old lovin’

Lesson #8

Be brave. you can handle anything. literally anything. No one else got nothing on you.

you’re a freaking rockstar. Feel it. Be it.

Lesson #9

Everything eventually works out. So chill, relax and wait for it to work out. Don’t despair.

Lesson #10

Never stop learning. Learn from as many things as you can. Every song. Every movie. Every person. Every situation has something to teach you. Learn and grow.

ok so i lied. There are 25 life lessons. But remember lesson #7? People lie all the time. so. yeah you were warned.

Lesson #11

Life is good. don’t stress. live in the present. Don’t let your mind wander into the past. Be present.

Lesson #12

simple is beautiful. De-clutter your life, de-clutter your mind. Be simple. Think simple and peace will follow.

Lesson #13

“Go with the flow darling.”

Lesson #14

“YOU KNOW, SOMETIMES ALL YOU NEED IS TWENTY SECONDS OF INSANE COURAGE. JUST LITERALLY TWENTY SECONDS OF JUST EMBARRASSING BRAVERY. AND I PROMISE YOU, SOMETHING GREAT WILL COME OF IT.”

― BENJAMIN MEE, WE BOUGHT A ZOO

Lesson #15

Go to a new place. do things that scare you. meet new people. Experience new things. nothing matches experience.

Lesson #16

Be confused. Be challenged. Feel good. Feed bad. Feel pathetic. Feel everything. Feel deeply. Thats how you will grow. Feel it, embrace it and come out of it as a better version of yourself.

Lesson #17

Don’t be a push over. You deserve everything that you think you deserve. You are worth it. Treat yourself like a freaking king and don’t let anyone else ever make you feel otherwise.

Lesson #18

“Opinion is really the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability, no understanding. The highest form of knowledge… is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another’s world. It requires profound purpose larger than the self kind of understanding.”

~Bill Bullard

Lesson #19

take chances. Make decisions and stick to them. Talk to strangers. Make memories. Make stories. Don’t worry about how long they will last. Collect moments and don’t fret about the longevity of things in your life. Whatever is meant to be will always be.

Lesson #20

Don’t feed the self doubt that creeps up on you every once in a while (if not more) its somewhere beyond this self doubt that you will find something beautiful and wonderful. So keep at it. Keep fighting the doubt.

Lesson #21

believe in tarot cards. believe in horoscopes. believe in ghosts. believe in whatever you want to believe. But do believe in something.

Lesson #22

Always remember, the universe is looking after you. Feel it. Feel the guidance, feel the protective shield. You have survived so far, and you will continue to do so. Let go of the negative vibes and embrace the immense beauty that is present everywhere.

Lesson #23

Some endings are necessary. Without them there would be no beginnings. So let go. End it. Let it end. Grieve. Get over it and get ready for something even better.

Lesson #24

Everything always happens for a reason. Dont lose yourself to the stress and worry. Be patient. you might not get what you want, but trust the universe to give you exactly what you need.

Lesson #25

Be on a pursuit of happiness. And trust me you’ll find it. Not in someone else. Not in some place else. No. you will find it within you. Your happiness starts and ends with you, as long as you remember that – nothing can get in your way. So be happy. And listen to this beautiful song by Kid Cudi which inspired this whole blog post. (final bunch of pictures, i promise!)

“I’m on the pursuit of happiness and I know

everything that shine ain’t always gonna be gold, hey

I’ll be fine once I get it, yeah

I’ll be good.”

Thank you for all the people who were a part of this trip. you know who you guys are. the memories i made on this trip will last a lifetime if not more. All the highs and lows were all worth it. And i wish i get a chance to do this again.

Till then stay cool. Hope i inspired you.

Loads of Love and good vibes to you.

Some more picture spam below. These beauties are not clicked by me because as usual my phone died! But i was there. its the same thing. anyway. Thank you for reading :*

This blog was originally published on 'In My shoes'