You are where you are now because of the things you did in earlier years.
What you do now will determine where you will be and what your life will look like in later years.
Your life is a work in progress, but there are some things you should definitely not put off until later.
Here are 10 things you will regret not doing now in ten years:
10 Things You Will Regret Not Doing Now in Ten Years
1 Stop making excuses
Excuses only validate your obstacles.
Stop making excuses for why you can’t do things and just work towards them.
The most successful people in life are those who push themselves out of their comfort zones.
If you believe you can’t, you are right.
If you believe you can, you are also right.
Find a way to work through or go around your obstacles.
If you’re hesitant about important decisions that will turn your life around for good, stop making excuses and start doing them now.
2 Cultivate healthy friendships
Friendships are a great source of happiness and support.
Later on in life, we often find ourselves wishing we’d spent more time with certain friends or that we had been kinder to them.
A social circle is extremely important in all stages of your life.
You need people who support you and encourage you to be better.
You also need people who won’t let you get away with being lazy or making excuses.
These are the people who will be there for you when times are tough, and they’ll help keep you accountable when it’s time to make a change.
Make an effort to cultivate meaningful relationships with people with whom you share similar values.
Make sure you have at least one close friend who understands and appreciates who you are as a person, someone who will be there for you through thick and thin.
Good relationships add color to life.
3 Form good habits
You’ll surely regret not developing positive habits such as regular exercising, healthy diets, lifelong learning, spending enough time with the people you love, staying in touch with old friends, sharing and caring, and forgiving yourself for your slip-ups and mistakes.
You will never regret working out, getting fit, eating right, and forming all these other good habits.
In the long run, they foster good health and long life.
A healthy lifestyle is a lifestyle of discipline and consistency.
If you’re not disciplined enough to cultivate these habits now, there’s no reason to think that will change 10 years from now.
The journey to wellness starts from the present moment.
4 Take up hobbies and interests
One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to pick up activities you are passionate about.
Do you have interests you are particular about?
Art?
Poetry?
Books?
Writing?
Cooking?
Whatever it is, delve into them with dedication.
Ten years down the line, you’ll be glad that you did.
Learn something new and get involved with a group or club.
5 Making amends when you are wrong
There’s a lot of pressure to be perfect in our society.
We’re told that we should always be positive, upbeat, and happy.
It’s easy to forget that life is a learning process and we don’t need to be perfect at everything we do.
In fact, sometimes making mistakes can help us grow as people.
Don’t feel guilty about mistakes or failures.
Everyone makes them; they’re part of life’s rich tapestry.
Sometimes, those mistakes can cause hurt feelings or damaged relationships.
It isn’t always easy to apologize, but it’s necessary.
If you know something you said or did caused harm, apologize and do whatever it takes to make amends with the person involved before it becomes too big an issue that cannot be resolved.
If you want to get along with people and maintain healthy relationships, you need to make amends when you’re wrong.
It is one of the most important things you can do for yourself and for others.
6 Get your finances right
No matter how bad your finances are right now, you can still make some changes to ensure your future is secure.
Learn how to manage money better.
Get out of debt.
Have an emergency fund for unanticipated expenses like car repairs or medical issues.
If you’ve been living paycheck-to-paycheck, start saving more money today so that you don’t have to worry about money when you’re older.
Dedicate yourself to financial education and intelligence.
If there’s one thing you will not regret when you’re older, it’s taking control of your finances earlier in life.
This means saving more and investing wisely.
The sooner you start putting money aside for later in life, the less likely it is that you will be reliant on someone else when you retire or rely on the state.
7 Being kind to everyone
You don’t have to be friends with everyone or even like them, but it’s important to be kind to everyone.
Not only does this help those around you feel better about themselves, but it also makes your own life better by making you feel good about yourself too.
Kindness is contagious, kindness begets more kindness.
If you want the world around you to be better, then you should start by being kinder to yourself.
There are many ways of being kind.
Volunteering your time at a local soup kitchen or shelter, giving someone a compliment, offering to help someone who seems overwhelmed, sending someone an encouraging note or text message, and forgiving others for their mistakes.
8 Starting each day right
The most important part of your day is the start; when you’re fresh and your willpower is high.
Use that time to do something meaningful that will elevate your mental health, whether it’s exercising, meditating, reading, or writing.
If you don’t set aside some time for yourself first thing, you’ll be tempted to spend all day answering emails and checking social media.
Most of us get up and head straight to our laptops or phones.
We race through our morning routine, sometimes skipping breakfast.
But what if you took a few minutes each morning to start your day right?
The beginning of each day sets the tone for the rest of the day.
It’s important to think about how you want to start each morning and then try to live up to those expectations.
Waking up early and starting your day off with a positive thought is a great way to make sure that you feel good throughout the entire day.
You’ll never regret doing this!
9 Saying ‘I love you’ every day
It’s easy to take our loved ones for granted, especially when they’re right there in front of us every day.
But take a moment today to tell them how much they mean to you.
Hold them tight, look them deeply in the eye and tell them how much you love being with them every day.
You will feel better about yourself too.
10 Getting enough sleep
According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), sleep deprivation makes it harder to focus on your work and causes irritability, sadness, and depression.
It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life, but there are some things you just can’t put off.
Sleeping is one of the most important things for a healthy life.
It’s something we all have to do, but many people don’t get enough of it.
It can take up to two days for your body to recover from one night of little sleep.
Every night, you have an opportunity to recharge your batteries and prepare for the next day.
It’s a chance to unwind from the stress of work, family life, and other responsibilities.
A lot of people spend their evenings watching TV or surfing the internet instead of getting enough sleep.
If there’s one sure thing about life, it’s that we all need more sleep than we’re getting.
Most of us don’t realize how much we need until it’s too late.
You have a lot going on in your life right now, I get it.
You are busy and you have deadlines.
Or the reverse is the case.
Either way, the earlier you get started on doing these things, the better.
Ten years from now, you don’t want to look back with regret.
