6 Harsh Truths That Will Make Your Life Easier (Good Stuff!)

What if I’d tell you that you can have an easy and relaxed life, but you first need to go through some pain. Would you give it a try?

Most people wouldn’t because they choose to stay comfortable now.

We choose the easy options and shy away from difficulties, even if we know that they’d lead to happiness in the future.

But at some point, we realize there’s no way to avoid pain anyway and need to face our fears regardless of our previous choices.

If you’re open to change, accepting the following harsh truths can be your shortcut to living a better life:

1. No One’s Responsible for Your Happiness

Most people don’t want to be responsible for anything. That’s why they struggle to make important decisions and prefer being a follower instead of a leader.

But what’s even worse is we sometimes even make others responsible for our own happiness.

We believe it’s our parents, partners, or friends’ job to make us happy.

The truth, however, is that all these people can’t make you happy at all. They might be able to contribute to your overall well-being, but whether you’re happy or not is entirely up to you.

Most people don’t want to accept that happiness is not a result. It’s a state of mind.

You don’t become happy because something happened. You’re happy because you choose to see the bright side despite the negativity.

Of course, you’ll experience a rush of happiness after that first kiss with your crush or after purchasing your dream car.

But that rush will eventually fade away, and you’ll get used to kissing your partner and driving your dream car.

If you want to live a happy life, you need to stop expecting anyone to make you happy and do it yourself.

Make time for the activities and people that make you feel good.

Take more breaks to nourish your body and soul. Go on long walks. Read great books. Dress up and put a smile on your face.

Shit happens all the time, but it’s up to you to find joy in your everyday life.

2. Most People Don’t Think Like You

Most of our problems could be eliminated if we’d just stop expecting everyone else to think and act like ourselves.

Other people are not you.

What makes sense to you might sound like nonsense to someone else. And that’s perfectly fine.

The key to getting along well and supporting each other despite different opinions and points of view is communication. As Nat Turner once said:

“Good communication is the bridge between confusion and clarity.”
If you constantly expect others to do, think, and feel like you, you’ll likely end up being disappointed.

Stop trying to change others and start asking yourself how to find joy and richness in being different.

3. You’re Allowed To Try, Fail, and Try Again

While formal education is all about avoiding mistakes, real life is about learning from mistakes.

Most of life’s lessons can’t be learned by heart. You need to experience them, get a little hurt, be a little disappointed, get back up, and move on to the next adventure.

The good news is that you’re allowed to do that as often as you want.

“Life is a series of failures punctuated by brief successes.”

— James Altucher

Most of us are so fixated on succeeding that we forget success is self-made. You define what success means to you, but you also define what it’s worth to you.

And if you want to achieve a significant goal, you need to be willing to fail — a lot.

Overnight successes don’t exist, and most success stories are based on dozens of miserable failures anyway.

The good news is that failure only feels bad when you’re right in the middle of it. Once you overcome it, you look back at it with a smile on your face. So the question is: Are you willing to fail until you succeed?

4. Hard Work Puts You Where Good Luck Can Find You

Here’s one of the most painful truths most people don’t want to hear: Life isn’t always fair.

Some people are luckier than others. And being “lucky” starts before we’re even born.

Some people are lucky to be born in wealthier countries than others. Some people are lucky to grow up with wealthier and more caring parents than others. And some people are lucky to have a million-dollar idea at the right time, in the right place.

But despite those unfair advantages, there’s a lot we can do to influence how lucky we are.

Most great opportunities don’t happen by coincidence. They find you because you’ve been working your butt off for a while without seeing the rewards.

I’m an online writer with millions of views on my articles every year.

I can easily make a full-time income by writing 3–5 articles per month. And it takes me around 2.5 hours to write a new piece.

Given that most writers fail to make money through their work, you might look at me and call me lucky. You might also think it’s “unfair.”

I look at my numbers and say, “I deserve this” because I worked day and night to achieve that sort of comfort in my work.

I started writing online while I was working a full-time job and studying. I was writing at 6 AM before work or after 10 PM when I was done studying for my exams. I wrote every weekend and during all holidays.

And I did that for more than 1.5 years while I was making an average of $6 per article.

After 150 articles, I finally understood how to do it and managed to turn my words into a paycheck.

Some call it luck. I say luck finds you when you’ve done the work.

You can be annoyed and wait for a miracle to happen, or you get your cute ass up, fight for your dreams, and trust the universe.

It’s up to you.

5. You Are the Product of Your Decisions

Most people are in love with big, sudden changes.

At the end of December, they look back at the last 12 months, realize they didn’t make any progress, and decide to turn their life upside down in the next year.

They sign up for the gym, start a diet, and spend tons of money on useless supplements.

Less than 20 days later, they fall back into their usual routines of laziness and unhealthy eating.

What they don’t understand is that life happens one moment at a time.

We’re making small decisions all the time.

You decide whether you eat one more cookie or not, whether you put some sugar into your coffee or not, whether you order a cup of veggies or some extra fries.

You decide whether you spend a nice evening with your partner or if you reply to a few more emails.

You also decide whether you get up early to work on your side project or sleep a little longer.

At first sight, all those decisions seem small and insignificant, but they add up.

Changing your life is not about being radical. It’s about being consistent.

6. You will die

Even though we all know that death is inevitable, most people live as if they’ll exist forever.

They keep running after vanity metrics and shiny objects without ever asking themselves why they’re doing it.

At the end of your days, you won’t care about your paycheck, car, followers, or some vanity metrics.

You’ll care about the people you’ve been surrounded by and the joy you experienced.

And the earlier you start investing in genuine relationships and yourself, the happier you’ll be later on.

Final Thoughts

A good life isn’t always easy. Sometimes, being happy and satisfied isn’t about sipping cocktails on a beach but about doing the hard things.

Difficult conversations, healthy boundaries, and taking care of yourself aren’t always comfortable, but they’re powerful and necessary.

In the end, life probably isn’t meant to be easy anyway. It’s meant to be rich and beautiful — full of ups and downs, failures, and new opportunities.

The question is… do you take the risk and ride the wave, or do you hide behind lies that make you feel more comfortable than the truth?

CONTRIBUTED BY Sinem Günel

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