22 Random Life Lessons from 2022
2022 has been another huge learning year for me.
Less so on the work front, although my business continued to go from strength to strength (I will address this in my annual review post in the coming days).
Instead, the year has been more about challenging my mental toughness and resilience - something I feel that life regularly tests me with!
As you probably already know if you’ve been around here for a while, I’ve had to go through multiple brain operations this year, including a full invasive craniotomy (with another to come in a few months). But in addition, I have also watched my 88-year-old father’s health decline rapidly over the past 6 months, which has been challenging to watch and has brought up many difficult childhood memories and trauma - something I don’t really talk about publicly.
For the past few years I’ve been documenting some of the life lessons that the year has taught me here on my blog. And as with most of my content, I do this to keep a record of my own thinking more than anything else. But I also share it all publicly for a few other reasons:
I do have some serious health issues with my multiple brain aneurysms and operations. The doctors have no idea why I have so many brain aneurysms and I do live each day with the potential that something catastrophic could happen to me. Because of that, it feels even more important than ever to document in public so that I leave a legacy of my thoughts and ideas for my boys if I’m ever not here to be able to tell them these things in person.
I also figure there is no point creating in private - what use is it for me to write a post like this and not share it? It seems much more useful to spend the time creating it in public in case it is helpful or interesting to someone else as well.
So with all of that said, here are my 22 random life lessons from 2022….
Life is constantly throwing me curve balls. I do feel like I get dealt a slightly more difficult hand than the average person (but I also recognise that many people have it much tougher than me as well). It continues to be completely up to me I choose to respond to these challenges. I can’t control what happens in life - but happiness and a positive mindset is a choice that I can 100% make.
There will always be too much to do. Deciding the best and most impactful things to work on is the way to win the game.
Sometimes my body needs to rest (and that’s OK). After my brain surgery in July I was very frustrated with my loss of physical strength and my lack of drive and discipline around my work. After a lot of coaching from my husband I finally accepted that my body had been through a major trauma and it needed rest. It’s OK to take that rest when your body tells you it needs it.
It takes less mental energy to get something hard done than it does to procrastinate and beat myself up about not doing it. Action > Over thinking.
It’s good to have a ‘life admin’ document in case anything happens. I created one before my brain surgery this year as I hold SO MUCH information about my business, my kids, my family and our lives inside my head. I wanted to get all of that out of my head and on paper in case anything happened to me. But don’t wait for a major life event to create something like this - put one together today. You never know what could happen and leaving a mess of paperwork and a lack of information behind will make it much harder for your loved ones.
Being fit seems to help a lot of things in life for me. It improves my mood, helps with anxiety, makes me feel more confident, helps me manage my weight, is challenging and fun and was a major contributor to how fast I recovered from major brain surgery. Being fit is a massive life hack.
It’s unfortunate that it takes major life events (normally challenging ones) to make people realise how tough they are and how much they are capable of. I’ve been tested with this so many times in my life and each time it pushes me to become a better version of myself. I wish I could somehow bottle that toughness for other people (without them having to go through the awful life events to get there).
When you go through something difficult in life it’s often harder for other people than it is for you. I saw this first hand this year with my family watching me go through my brain surgery and recovery.
The body is a pretty amazing machine and bounces back amazingly well. The first day back at training after my brain surgery I thought I wouldn’t get through my class! But I just showed up day by day and it was surprising how fast I regained what I had lost. If you feel very out of shape and like you’ll never get fit, just chip away at it consistently and you’ll be surprised at what your body is capable of.
Analysis by paralysis will put you behind in life. This year we finally decided what we are going to do with our home renovation (after 2 years of thinking about it!). We eventually came full circle with our decision but due to COVID and rising home build costs we now will be paying about $500K more for the same thing we could have had completed a year ago! Often it’s best to just choose the best option in the moment and keep moving forward.
This year I’ve tried to cut down on purchasing more ‘stuff’. When we were moving my Dad to a nursing home this year we put 2 skip loads of stuff in the bin (and donated a lot of other stuff). This really taught me to think twice about buying more things I don’t really need.
Daily walks are underestimated. They are good for my mental health, a chance to listen to podcasts/audiobooks, a chance to get outside in the sun (or rain!) and great low-inpact exercise as well. Daily walks are one of my secrets to success.
Spend vs Wait
Spend as much as I want on:
books
online courses
high quality food
accountability for things I want to improve (e.g. fitness trainer)
holidays and family experiences
Wait 24 hours and think before I purchase:
clothes
material purchase
more “stuff”
Stop reading books that I’m not enjoying. I have more books with a handful of chapters read than I do completed books. I used to feel like I had to struggle through a book, even if it wasn’t bringing me value. Now I stop reading it and try something else if I’m not enjoying it. Life is too short for bad books!
Re-read my favourite books - I have a few books I like to read every year (e.g. Derek Sivers’ ‘Anything you want’ is one of these - I’m currently re-reading that at the moment). Every time I re-read it I get something new from it.
Habit stacking is the easiest way to change your life. Over the past 3-4 years I’ve slowly built up one habit on top of another. For example:
About 4 years ago I started taking exercise more seriously
This eventually helped me tidy up my diet
I also religiously started to get up earlier (so I could do some work before training)
Having to be up early and taking my fitness seriously was one of the main reasons I decided to stop drinking alcohol
And so on with lots of other small changes I’ve made over the years…
Speaking of living without alcohol - this continues to be a massive game changer for me. I’ve just passed 3 years alcohol free and I think it is one of the most life changing decisions I’ve ever made.
A strong positive, mental mindset is a huge life asset. I try to see the best in situations, even when they are tough. I remind myself that this is a choice.
Daily meditation is helpful. I’ve been meditating for nearly 500 days in a row now. I think I’m overall a calmer and more balanced person and, most importantly, I enjoy it and have built it as a daily habit.
The ultimate sign of success is being able to spend your day exactly how you want to. Money is obviously a great byproduct of being successful but I continue to dictate exactly how I spend my time each day and I love this freedom I have created for myself in life.
My health is my number 1 priority. Eating well and being in good shape is good for my mental health, how I look, how I feel, how I sleep, how I show up for the people around me and how much energy I have. I continue to spend a disproportionate amount of time and money on improving my health and will continue to do this in 2023.
Never underestimate what’s possible in one year of focused effort. I think I probably included this life lesson in my ‘life lesson’ post last year, but it continues to be true. I’ll finish this post off by sharing this powerful exercise that will hopefully help you have your best every year in 2023!
Thanks for reading and catch you in my next post :)
Clare x
Dr Clare Le Roy
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