The Tribune

By Canon S Sebastian Campbell

1. Stop spending time with the wrong people

Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you. If someone wants you in their life, they’ll make room for you. You shouldn’t have to fight for a spot. Never, ever throw yourself upon someone who continuously overlooks your worth. And remember, it’s not the people that stand by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand beside you when you’re at your worst who are your true friends.

1. Stop running from your problems

Face them head on. No, it won’t be easy. There is no person in the world capable of flawlessly handling every punch thrown at them. We aren’t supposed to be able to instantly solve problems. That’s not how we’re made. In fact, we’re made to get upset, sad, hurt, stumble and fall because that’s the whole purpose of living – to face problems, learn, adapt, and solve them over the course of time. This is what ultimately moulds us into the person we become.

1. Stop lying to yourself

You can lie to anyone else in the world, but you can’t lie to yourself. Our lives improve only when we take chances, and the first and most difficult chance we can take is to be honest with ourselves. Read “The Road Less Travelled.”

1. Stop putting your own needs on the back burner

The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too. Yes, help others, but help yourself too. If there was ever a moment to follow your passion and do something that matters to you, that moment is now.

1. Stop trying to be someone you’re not

One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that’s trying to make you like everyone else. Someone will always be prettier, someone will always be smarter, someone will always be younger, but they will never be you. Don’t change so people will like you. Be yourself and the right people will love the real you.

1. Stop trying to hold onto the past

You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one.

1. Stop being scared to make a mistake

Doing something and getting it wrong is at least ten times more productive than doing nothing. Every success has a trail of failures behind it, and every failure is leading towards success. You end up regretting the things you did not do far more than the things you did.

1. Stop betraying yourself for old mistakes

We may love the wrong person and cry about the wrong things, but no matter how things go wrong, one thing is for sure, mistakes help us find the person and things that are right for us. We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here now with the power to shape your day and your future. Every single thing that has ever happened in your life is preparing you for a moment that is yet to come.

1. Stop trying to buy happiness

Many of the things we desire are expensive. But the truth is, the things that really satisfy us are totally free – love, laughter and working on our passions.

1. Stop exclusively looking to others for happiness.

If you’re not happy with who you are on the inside, you won’t be happy in a long-term relationship with anyone else either. You have to create stability in your own life first before you can share it with someone else. Read “Stumbling on Happiness”.

1. Stop being idle

Don’t think too much or you’ll create a problem that wasn’t even there in the first place. Evaluate situations and take decisive action. You cannot change what you refuse to confront. Making progress involves risk. Period! You can’t make it to second base with your foot on first.

1. Stop thinking you’re not ready

Nobody ever feels 100 percent ready when an opportunity arises. Because most great opportunities in life force us to grow beyond our comfort zones, which means we won’t feel totally comfortable at first.

• See next week’s Religion for part II