27 life lessons from 20 books

In 2021, I was going through a lot of changes in my life. Like many people, I thought I could find all the answers I needed in books. And that’s exactly what I tried to do. Here are some lessons I learned on my personal development journey from 20 books I read in one year:

1. You can’t avoid stress, but you can create systems in your life to handle it better.
2. Self-help books are not a substitute for speaking with mental health professionals.
3. Change in your life often starts from a certain level of personal responsibility for your actions.
4. You are not responsible for every outcome in your life. Some are just bad luck. A lot of it is circumstance.
5. Being resentful is like holding a jagged stone in your hand. No one sees it, but you’re the only one that feels the pain. Forgiveness can set you free.
6. Some things you can never truly forgive. Some things in life we must always remember.
7. Empathy and narcissism exist on a spectrum. One involves our capacity to fixate on others, the other focuses on our capacity to fixate on ourselves. We will always fluctuate.
8. If you don’t make time to heal from burnout, your burnout will make time for you.
9. The best thing we can do to reach our goals is take our time. Not in terms of meeting any actual deadlines, but how we treat ourselves as we work and recover.
10. Life is more about the journey than the destination.
11. Working on yourself won’t guarantee you anything but perspective.
12. Most of the dating discourse we see is because of patriarchy. We are recognizing the damaging effects of it, while trying to hold onto this system’s benefits.
13. Patriarchy encourages men to be nonchalant shells of themselves.
14. Patriarchy is a system that thrives on domination and oppression. It often leaves little room for genuine compassion.
15. Internalized patriarchy will make some of these problems linger much more than we’d like to admit.
16. If you only read and listen to educational content, you may start to feel dull. Mix it up!
17. It’s just as important to experience life as it is to reflect on it.
18. Exercise is great for your mental health and well-being.
19. Wellness is much wider than mindfulness. It is physical. It is financial. It is psychological. It is healthcare. It is housing. It’s so much more than meets the eye. It’s important to recognize all the factors that play into this.
20. Writing in a journal actually helps you make sense of your feelings over time. If journals feel hard, try poetry.
21. Making time for you is the first step to building a great relationship with yourself.
22. Find your people, and try to make time for them.
23. Find your hobbies, and try to make time for them.
24. Sometimes doing nothing is the best thing you can do to recover.
25. Reflection doesn’t mean much without action.
26. You need to accept that you will continue to change. You need to continue to accept that person.
27. You can only receive love as deeply as you love yourself.
    

Which of these lessons stuck out to you the most? I’d consider you to ask yourself why.

If you’d like a complete list of the books Kwasi read, feel free to get in touch through our contact page!