21 hard pills of life I wished I’d known before 40

I have confessions…(Yeah I’m channeling my inner Usher to share all the things)

Witches, vampires, superheros, paranormal, & immortality excited me! Dudes, I read all the Goosebumps & vampire books I could get my hands on as a shy, nerdy, overweight, insecure little girl. 

Even as an adult, Twilight & The Vampire Diaries consumed me. I wanted to be Bella & Elena.

When I was 8, I asked a librarian: “I wish we all had a choice to live as a superhero or immortal.”

I’ll never forget what she said as she pushed back her dirty glasses. She said, “You know, you can. Your thoughts have power to become things. Start taking & embracing the hard pills right now so you can savor the good pills.”

I thought, “WTF are hard pills & good pills?” (Ok, maybe I didn’t think WTF as an 8 year old but that’s exactly what my adult mind would’ve been saying)

Reading & learning about The Dalai Lama later in life, I realized our lives provide us with a shared portion of those hard & good pills that librarian was referring to.

Hard pills: Death, life stress, debt, health problems, obesity, relationship problems, depression, bad habits, addictions, heartbreak, etc.

Good pills: Love, assets, family, friends, a home, income, good habits, health, success, knowledge, etc.

I realized when I was younger, I feared & avoided the “hard” pills instead of embracing them as experiences to learn from.

Experiences to grow from in order to become the best version of myself. They didn’t make me a failure or less worthy, but actually MORE credible & valuable because I could confidently say I had been through some shit, accepted sometimes it be that way, & STILL come out on top.  

For that, here are 21 hard pills I wished I’d known before 40 + lessons learned from Dalai Lama that will help you become stronger!