4.4 lessons from turning 44 years old

As I release Amirski version 4.4 I thought I would write a short 4.4 lessons I have learnt over the last 44 years of my life.

1. Every person is unique so what works for me might not work for you. Do your own research and find advice that suits you for that time in life - don't let everyone sway you on what you can and can't do or should or should not do....even me!

2. You can be happy now. You don't need the relationship, house, car, degree or whatever else you are waiting for to give you permission to be happy. Not feeling so good? Take a short walk around your neighborhood. Call up an old friend. Do something that doesn't cost you but will change your mood. Your mood is everything.

3. Build relationships in your life but don't be disappointed as people come and go out of your life. This is part of your development. Some of my best friends I haven't seen for over 20 years. And some friends that I consider my best friends I might only have ever had one short coffee with. Learn to be friends with people outside your school, work, family, nationality, religion, race, ethnicity or social class.

4.1 It's hard to predict how long things will take to make happen. Create an awesome vision of what you could do with your life and how you could contribute to the world. Don't worry if you haven't found it yet or it doesn't seem to be working out just yet. Nelson Mandela believed in the cause of black South African having the same rights as white South Africans. He was in jail for 27 years and it seemed like nothing was happening but he got there in the end. So can you.

4.2 Sometimes you will take steps back in life before you move forward again. You might lose a job. Or a relationship or change careers or specialisations in college. Do not worry - there is no true path forward. Just keep moving.

4.3 Forget the numbers for a while. How many likes you get. How much you have in the bank account etc. What the weighing scale is telling you. These are all human created games and if you live by these numbers you will feel sadder over time (for instance I don't post as regularly on social media so my engagement numbers are poorer than my version 3.4 release but I had to realise that this was not the game I wanted to play as much anymore). Focus more on the habits you want to create and these will get you the results....eventually!

4.4 Appreciate life. I grew up in the 1980s and 1990s. If you told me that I would be holding a small device in my hand that had access to all the 100s of CDs that I owned at the time and even have access to any song ever played on the radio (spotify) I would think that would be unbelievable.

Or that I could travel to almost any country and know where I am going (google maps) or have access to the entire encyclopedia and more (wikipedia) or have hundreds of movies to watch anytime anywhere without ads (netflix) or that I could write a small message to dozens of people while going on my daily walk while listening to music that would be awesome.

Or that people that I might have met over 10 years ago somewhere in my journey in life would read this without even having to spend a single cent on a stamp that would be crazy.

So executive summary of my 4.4 lessons is that you can choose to be happy when you want (it has taken me many years to work that out and I still struggle with it working with life coaches, phyciatrists etc) but there are moments when I take some time out to appreciate life and so can you!

Hope you enjoyed International Amirism Day as much as we did.