Almost all adults are faced with challenges that seem difficult to overcome, but in retrospect, if we think of it, are they really? 

Life is complex, and that sometimes, is the point of it. Nobody would move forward, grow, defy boundaries, and make something great out of their lives, unless faced with that challenge.

Yet, so many times we end up exchanging our thoughts, passions, and goals, for others in the name of responsibility, “growing up”, or, simply under the pressure of what is “expected” of us. 

Research and science has proven time and again that nothing, and nobody, can actually stop you from doing what you want to do, but you. 

While others might be able to influence your thoughts, the last step, the action, is always taken by you.

For instance, think of the person you look up to the most in the world. Now think of how much do you really know about them? Done? Now, think of how well you know yourself, and imagine just where you could reach if you believed in yourself as much as you did in that person you were just thinking of? 

Nobody can know you better than you, right? This makes what you feel about yourself so much more important.

A lot has been written about ‘being comfortable in your own skin’ but what do we really mean by that? 

We have come to understand that we experience the world around us through our senses. The skin is the largest organ of our body and covers most of these senses. Being comfortable in your own skin, therefore, implies experiencing the world in its reality – in its present – how you feel in that moment, while sensing those things that are around you for yourself. Not what someone has told you about it, not what you read about it, not how you think about it – but how you sense it in that moment, and what you do about it next.

This keen sense of living in the now, and planning the things in your control, and consciously acting upon it is what people meditate years to achieve.

A few things that can help you get there:

1. Taking care of yourself like you would for a friend or loved one – you would go out of your way to cheer up a friend, why not yourself?
2. Accepting your flaws as a part and parcel of life. So often we say ‘nobody is perfect’ – we need to understand that we are a part of that nobody too.
3. Nourish your mind and soul – say YES more often to things so that you can experience life in its full form! How would you know if you like something or are good at it, if you didn’t even give it a try?
4. Put your Happiness first – NO! it is not selfish to put your happiness above everything else. There is a reason why you are detached from the womb of your mother at child birth – because you are an individual with thoughts, likes, dislikes, and choices of their own. Do more of what makes you happy as long as it is not going to harm someone else in any way.
5. Choose the people you surround yourself with – let go of those who bring you down. There are too many people in the world, but too little time. Don’t waste it.
6. Don’t stress over the past, or even the present and future for that matter – there will always be some things in your control, and some things out of it. Don’t stress over it!

Very often, life feels like a game. As you advance the levels get harder and harder, but as the time passes, the rewards, simpler and simpler. 

Happiness, peace of mind, serenity, all of these can easily be achieved if you can detach from the noise outside and focus on the voice inside.