Edited by Jasmine Ryu Won Kang
In my life, I live by 5 main quotes. I believe words are so impactful to my mindset and help me turn the potentially negative experiences in life into positives. I think oftentimes when things go awry, people can think the worst, but over the past few years, I have tried to alter destructive thoughts into learning experiences to become a more optimistic person. These are the 5 main mantras I live by to help positively change my mindset in life.
- Grow through what you go through
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This is the first quote for a reason. When I started writing down mantras to live by a few years ago, this was the first one I wrote down. I wrote it down for the sheer amount of realization I had when taking in the meaning for the first time. This mantra to me means taking the experiences and things I have dealt with in life and learning through them. It’s all about being a better person due to self-growth.
- If it’s meant to be, it will be
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If it is meant for me, it will be for me. That is such a powerful mantra I live by. As much as my mind can want to picture things in my life happening, there is no way to possibly have everything I ever want in life. So, this is especially important in grounding myself, whether it be about people, opportunities, grades, etc. If something is meant to happen, it will, and if it doesn’t, that means it was not for me in the first place. I often focus on things that did not happen more than things that do. This mantra helps me put into perspective that maybe it was not the time for that specific experience, or maybe it will not be the best thing in the long term.
- Don’t look back, you’re not going that way
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Dwelling on the past in my own life is not healthy. Even if something happened quite a long time ago, I find myself living in the past, worrying about how I could have done things differently. But this quote puts into perspective that what has happened already is in the past – I cannot change that, and the only way to go is forward. If I focus on the past, I’ll never be in the present and enjoying what life has to offer me right at this moment. This mantra is a great reminder that what once happened in my life is not the focus of my attention and instead, I need to focus on what is coming.
- In order to love who you are, you cannot hate the experiences that shaped you
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I, like many other people, have gone through some pretty hard experiences and feel resentment towards these experiences. But I cannot love who I am without the things I have gone through. As hard as some of the things were, they have all shaped me in some way and made me a better person even if I do not realize it. If I spent all of my time feeling resentment, hatred, and negativity due to my life experiences, that would consume me – instead, I take what this mantra has to offer. Through this quote I learned to love everything about myself, even the adversity I have experienced.
- If it’s not going to matter in 5 years – don’t spend more than 5 minutes being upset about it
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This is huge in reminding myself to not sweat the small things in life. Like realistically, is something minor like a bad grade on a quiz going to impact my life in 5 years? The answer 9/10 times is no. This is a great mantra I legitimately ask myself multiple times a week. It is powerful in reminding myself to get a grasp on the important things in life, and not to waste my thoughts on something so irrelevant. I truly will sit down for 5 minutes, let myself think about what happened, and analyze how much this will affect my life. If I do not see this affecting my life in 5 years, I leave those negative thoughts in those 5 minutes and move on with my life.
I hope these quotes/mantras help others positively change their mindsets. All I want is others to feel the same impact these quotes have had on my life!