As we all journey through this chaotic road called life, we often learn valuable lessons along the way. I might not be the oldest man you will find in the world, but I have learnt my fair share of lessons. From positives to negatives, life’s lessons would sometimes bring a smile to my face and sometimes a crack to my heart. I have decided to browse through my life and pick out 10 of the most important lessons that I have learnt. “Why would you do this?” you might ask. Well, unlike certain realities in life that occur to certain people at certain times, these realities will occur to every person. That is why I want you to read this carefully and alter your life in a way that you cater for these realities. So let’s get right down to it…
1. Parents and family stay, friends don’t – Now I do have quite a bit of friends. The thing is, none of my friends today were with me 10 years ago, and none of my friends 10 years ago were with me 15 years ago. The point is, you will come across many friends in your life. Some will be very good but due to our ever changing lifestyles, very few will stay. Your parents and family on the other hand, will always be with you. They were with you the day you were born, they are with you today and they will be with you the day you die.
2. Dua can move mountains – There is no time to go into the details but I know of a man who literally took what he wanted with Dua. He sat up at night, he cried and cried until he got what he wanted. It took him about 2 years to get it, but he never gave up. There were a few people who thought it was impossible to get what he wanted. I, myself, at times doubted if it would ever happen but what many thought to be impossible, became possible with the will of Allah. I know all this because he use to confide in me and we were very close. That one incident thought me that indeed Dua can make possible what people see as impossible. I know you burning right now to know what is it that he wanted so much, right? Well, he wanted to marry a certain girl. She was not interested at first and it seemed like there was no hope. Long story short, today they are happily married.
3. Old habits are here to stay -We often have bad habits that we wish to change but we trick ourselves into believing that it will happen later in life. You might have a habit of listening to music but you keep telling yourself that you will stop listening once you get married. Or you might have a habit of missing Salaah but you tell yourself that once you complete your studies you Prayers will be in order. The reality is, you deceiving yourself my friend. It will never happen unless you start today, right now. As we go through the different stages in life, it’s the old habits that stay with us. By making a change today, you turn your bad habits into good habits thus allowing your good habits to become the old habits that will stay with you for life. This habit of telling yourself “I’ll change one day” is a powerful tool that Shaytaan uses on all of us.
4. We can never have everything in order – I’m sure, just like me, you long for that day when everything in your life will be in order. I don’t necessarily mean being wealthy and rich (I’m still coming to that point). I’m referring to the usual “things” that we have to sort out in life. Things like taking the car for a wash, fixing your phone, getting your studies in order or closing down an old Facebook account. The thing is, it never gets done. If you finally get your phone fixed, all of a sudden your MP3 player starts giving problems. If you finally get down to closing down your old Facebook account,guess what, you receive an SMS from the bank that an old bank account is in arrears. Yes, it might not be the most important things in life but I have learnt that these are chores, it’s part of life. It never ends.
5. You’ll never regret silence – Think back in life. There must be something you said one day that you now regret saying. It broke a friendship or started a fight. Even though you still friends with that person, I guarantee you things will never be the same. Your friend might have forgiven but very unlikely he/she has forgotten. If there’s nothing beneficial to say, just be silent. Remember one thing, the people around you should love you for who you are, not for what you say. There’s no need to blurt out comments just to keep a friendship. If that is the case, that friendship is not worth it.
6. There is light at the end of every tunnel – this point is probably the most difficult to understand especially if you are the one sitting in the dark tunnel. Life has its ‘ups’ and ‘downs’. It’s not possible to avoid difficult moments. What should keep us going is the fact that it gets darkest just before dawn and in order for a flower to blossom it has to endure a couple of thunderstorms. If you going through a difficulty right now, I want you to know well that it will come to an end one day. If everything is smooth in your life right now, I want you to write down the following on a piece of paper and take it out the day you find yourself in difficulty…
“There is light at the end of the tunnel and this difficulty will soon be gone. Like every other person in the world, I have to go through a rough patch. Patience and hope is the key. I cannot understand this point right now because I am the one sitting in a dark tunnel.”
7. You’ll never be content with any amount of money – I don’t have to ask you, I already know that you wish for the day when you will have enough money. The day when you can sit back, live a comfortable life and just ‘Chill’ (with a capital C). Unfortunately my friend, that never happens. Yes, being wealthy and rich happens, but sitting back and chilling, no. you don’t have to take my word for it, just look around you. Did you ever see a wealthy person sitting back and relaxing? Does Bill Gates relax in his multibillion dollar mansion? Or is he busy venturing into other business opportunities? When sports stars retire, do they relax and enjoy their millions? Or do they get into coaching and become advertising ambassadors for certain products. The point is, just like the amount of followers you have on Twitter, you will never be satisfied with any amount of wealth. I am not saying don’t earn. By all means, go out and make a living but understand that ‘wealth’ and ‘contentment’ can never be in the same sentence.
8. Our plans don’t always materialise – so you have a week of holiday. You think hard, plan and make a list of what you are going to do in the coming week. One week later you realise that most of the stuff you wrote on that list never happened. Sounds familiar? Sometimes years go by and it never gets done. Five years from now you plan to have a small business and you want to call it ‘ABC’. Five years later…’ABC’? huh? What’s that? Do you get what I’m trying to say? Yes, we should plan, of course we should, but always know in the back of your mind that my plans might not work out. Sometimes we so eager to see our plans materialise that when it doesn’t, it destroys us inside.
9. True character is seen by how a person treats people that can do nothing for him – I have noticed this and I have witnessed it many times. It’s sad, it’s unfortunate and I hope it’s not in you. Everyone has excellent character in front of his/her boss or manager but how many bosses or managers have excellent character in front of their employees. I am not asking you to start looking at people and analysing who fits the profile. I am asking you to look within yourself. Do you treat everyone the same? If you are a manager, do you show the same character to you subordinates and your CEO? If you are a student, do you show the same character to the new students and the ‘popular’ students? If I ever have to hire a person to work for me, or look for a suitable spouse for my kids (Don’t have any yet, InshaAllah one day), one of the first things I will look for in a person is how does he treat those that are below him. If his manager tells me that he has great values and qualities etc., it wouldn’t affect me. Yes, if an employee tells me that, it will hold a lot of weight. You will come across a lot of people like this in life, just make sure you don’t see one when in front of a mirror.
10. Reading is your lifelong companion – I left the most beneficial one for last. You might be asking yourself “What? Are you serious? The most beneficial? Reading?”. Well, before you raise an eyebrow, let me ask you one thing. Did you ever try it? You would find that those who regard ‘reading’ as a waste are often those that never attempted to read. Now I’m not saying you should take your mattress to the library and spend the weekend there. . Read about whatever you find interesting. Sport, technology, lifestyle blogs or even log onto this website and read my posts. Just get into the habit of reading, even if it’s just an article or two a week. A time will come when you will be able to even write articles. How? By reading often, automatically your brain picks up the format of words and sentences. I used to read a lot of newspaper articles when I was young. I wasn’t the geeky type, I was just bored. Today, I might not be the best writer in the world but I think I can script a decent article. I might not know everything in the world but, due to reading so many articles on so many different topics over the years, I can join any discussion and give a decent contribution be it sport, politics, business or technology. Read and succeed.
There you have it. I hope it benefits you, especially if you are still young and looking forward to entering the big world in the near future. Please, pass this article on to your friends and family and let it benefit as many people as possible. If you have any life lessons that would like to share, please feel free to comment below. Your lesson could benefit someone.
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