Brave-Up on the OLC: 15 Things You Should Keep Doing No Matter What [Part 2]

Humans are dynamic and complex creatures - we are adept in changing and adapting to new circumstances. While many beliefs, norms and paradigms are put to test against time, there are still certain ideas that will continue to ring throughout our lives, such as believing in yourself, pursuing progress and welcoming change - all mentioned in Part 1.

Here are 5 more things you should keep doing no matter what:

6. Follow Your Dreams

I know - you heard this a million times. But it is so important because too many people throw away their dreams. That is why it needs to be mentioned again and again.

Following your dreams is one of the hardest things to do in life. As we grow older, we are persuaded to abandon our dreams due to many reasons.

During childhood, our innocence and creativity enabled us to have many dreams - many reaching to the land of fantasy even. As Randy Pausch said in his inspiring lecture, we can achieve all of our childhood dreams, even if they may appear to be impossible at first. This can be done by changing them into realistic and feasible goals. 

We need to understand that no dream is easy to obtain. But many of the great things in life are worth fighting for. How happy would you be if you did something you do not like for the rest of your life? Not very much. 

So once you dream it - live it.

7. Use Your Time Wisely

Time is one of the very few things we cannot control. We cannot attain more, slow it down, or save it up. Once time passes, you cannot get it back. For this reason, time is limited and incredibly important.

Because time waits for no one, make sure to treasure each and every moment. Life is too short to be wasting precious time on being sad or angry about an event in the past. So make the most of today, because time will keep ticking away regardless. 

8. Take Risks

What kind of world would this be if everyone had a safety net under them? That is, there is no risk in anything. Businesses would never fail and no one would ever be rejected during confessions. As good as this sounds, it has no resemblance to what the world is actually like. Businesses fail and people do get rejected - regularly. Our society would not be anything like it is now.

The prospect of failure or danger is what preoccupies most of us when deciding to take a risk or not. However, nothing in the world is exactly risk-free. But focusing on the negative aspects is what keeps people back from truly living their desired lifestyle and dreams. No one in the world knows exactly what will happen unless you try. Even small risks can make your life more worthwhile! 

9. Appreciate Your Good Health

Do you remember the last time you were unable to do what you loved because of an illness? When a cold hampered your performance incredibly? Or when you felt mentally drained?

Although our society is slowly becoming more health conscious, many of us still choose options that are not beneficial for us. We do not fully appreciate our good health and how blessed we are until a monumental event happens. Even as a moderate health freak, I learned the importance of health the tough way.

After all, we only have one body! 

10. Stop Worrying And Enjoy Life

Worrying is not a productive solution and could actually make you stagnant, by lowering your self-confidence and developing negative attitude. This is because when we worry, our imagination kicks in and naturally thinks of the worse possible scenarios that could happen. 

To stop worrying, understand that it does not help solve anything. It simply creates a mental construct without a solution to a problem. And in many cases it enlarges the problem. Combat this by taking an action-oriented approach by planning and then executing an action. This also enables you to get past worrying about things that are not under your control, by analyzing problems logically, allowing you to move forward and enjoy your life instead of being stuck worrying every day.

Jason is a Criminology major who is hooked onto policing as a career. But that isn't all, he is also hooked on helping others become the best and strongest versions of themselves. Through his blog, Brave-Up, he looks to educate, motivate, inspire and raise questions about counter-productive social norms within our society. "Man up" is now an archaic term - because Brave-Up is NOW. You can find Jason on Twitter at @BraveUp_jy