15 Brutal Truths About Life That Will Change You as a Person

An instruction manual for life. We’d really like to keep this handy all the time—a guide on how to master life and become happy and successful people. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Everyone defines happiness and success differently. However, there are some immutable laws governing our human existence. In this article we’ll present 15 brutal truths that will change the way you look at life and what you can make of it.

1. Life is easier when someone believes in you.

Everyone needs backup and a reinforced safety net. This person does not have to be your partner or a family member. Find your mentor for life, then things will work out. Of course, the more people you can count as part of your fan club, the better.

2. Life only gives you opportunities, nothing else.

Everyone has a choice about what they want to do with their life. The starting conditions may be different. But the chances we get are not. How we use them and what we make of them is up to us. Remember the Roman poet’s famous words: "Carpe Diem" [Seize the day!] every day. Make the best use of every day, then you will be able to get the most out of each day.

3. Other people's lives go on without you.

That is a sad certainty. When we are gone, the world will keep turning without us. If we're lucky, someone will miss us. We’ll have to leave life and love behind, but life in general will go on. This course of events corresponds to the cycle of nature and its simple truth.

4. The comforts of life are meant to support us, not enslave us.

For example, money, mobility, or modern communication technologies—these inventions should help us and should make our lives easier. Anyone who cannot live without a smartphone, or spends more time at international airports than with his family, has not understood life.

5. Life always puts the importance of money in perspective.

Life without money sucks. Money is like gasoline—without it life breaks down. Is it important? Yes, of course. Is it the most important? No, definitely not. Balance your attitude towards money. You need enough to live on plus reserves for emergencies, but you can’t take it with you when you die.

6. Life reminds you to stay true to your values.

Have you ever acted totally against your own values? Did it work out for you? Probably not. We each have innate ideas about what is good and what is evil. Forsaking your principles is like beating our head against a brick wall—it’s self destructive.

7. Life deals the cards; you have to play them.

You have the choice of taking the easy path or the difficult one. Do you want to achieve something important, or do you just want to get by with the least effort? Are you a good person, or a selfish one? The hand is dealt, how we play is 100% up to us.

8. Life teaches us humility.

Maybe you know the saying: "God makes sure that the trees don't grow to heaven." This phenomenon of balancing justice occurs in your life when you take everything for granted and forget that gratitude is the basis of happiness. Are you convinced that everything you have achieved is solely due to your own efforts? Did you forget to thank God? Remember that you are dancing on thin ice, and fate can quickly take you down.

9. Your life attracts real and fake friends.

In bad times you can separate the wheat from the chaff. Good friends always remain by your side. Those who only use you as a hand up a social or economic ladder will disappear at the first sign of clouds.

10. Life forces you to take breaks.

If you are at home in the fast lane, you should not be surprised if you end up stopped on the shoulder involuntarily. Life will always bring you to a stop, or a break, when you really need it. Try to forestall such interventions and take time for yourself.

11. Life often gives unsolicited advice.

The lessons of the school of hard knocks are always the strictest. However, this school is also a very reliable teacher of truths. Before you have gone too far down the wrong path, life will intervene mercilessly and send you on a detour. In that moment you will be upset, but afterward, looking back, you will realize the detour to have been the best thing that could have ever have happened to you.

12. Life is a competition, mainly against ourselves.

We are constantly challenged to prove ourselves. Getting out of our comfort zone is the most important step in this regard. It is well known that nothing new can emerge from our comfort zones.

13. The meaning of life is composed from many small meanings.

In setting a big goal for your life, don’t overlook the many small achievements of everyday life, which you should be no less enthusiastic about. The most wonderful things happen to us every day, but not on an earth-shattering scale—a kind word, a smile from a stranger, or a problem solved. Enjoying the little things in life is the key to a successful existence.

14. If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.

You may already know this saying. There is so much truth in it that it almost makes you dizzy to think about it. However, He is not scary. Just look at it from God’s perspective and add to all your wishes and plans: “if it pleases God.” Everyone will be glad that you did because the phrase signals humility and trustworthiness.

15. Life loves the fighters, not the victims.

There is no Oscar for victimhood. Life is a gift, and while it doesn't always feel like it, it's basically one that's shared fairly. However, we humans tend to focus on those things we lack and overlook the wealth we have received. Anyone who constantly feels they have been neglected and disadvantaged will remain so in the future. The law of attraction knows no good or bad, it simply conforms to our inner self-conception and outward appearance or demeanor. Anyone who sees himself as an eternal victim will remain the victim forever.

Today’s Conclusion:

The truth and nothing but the truth. These 15 points just mentioned are perhaps difficult to digest. However, those who have gained a little life experience and learned lessons from it will have to agree with most of these truths. Seeing life as just a collection of difficulties and problems would be just as wrong as taking it as lightly as a game.

The truth lies somewhere in the golden mean. The key to a happy life is gratitude. It is the breeding ground on which everything else can grow. Dissatisfaction and self-pity, envy and resentment, on the other hand, are climatic conditions that make our lives rot away in a lonesome desert. That's it for today.