30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself

I loved every word of the post from Marcandangel.com below and wanted to share it on here. Its a worthy part of your 2011 reflection exercise to reflect on the things you want to stop doing, and leave behind in the current year as you move on to the year ahead. For me…as I truthfully reflect on 2011, its got to be numbers 8, 12, 19, 23 and 26 (you’ll know what I mean shortly, read on). Although, at one time or another it was everything on the list below.

I do have to acknowledge myself for the numbers that I just breezed past while reading and realized “Hey! I’m not that girl anymore! Way to go!” I can recognize the areas that I’ve grown and feel proud, and this is another key element of it all. So if you decide to read below, don’t be a self-hater and try to take on all of the advice at once. Acknowledge yourself for the ones you skip and realize that you don’t need any work in that area of your life. It’s okay to pat yourself on the back once in a while. Make sure to be kind to yourself too, you have plenty of time to take on all of the numbers below. Something tells me you’ll know where to start…

XO
♥ D

30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself

Article written by Marc at Marcandangel.com

When you stop chasing the wrong things you give the right things a chance to catch you.

“As Maria Robinson once said, “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” Nothing could be closer to the truth. But before you can begin this process of transformation you have to stop doing the things that have been holding you back.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

1. Stop spending time with the wrong people. – Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you. If someone wants you in their life, they’ll make room for you. You shouldn’t have to fight for a spot. Never, ever insist yourself to someone who continuously overlooks your worth. And remember, it’s not the people that stand by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand beside you when you’re at your worst that are your true friends.
2. Stop running from your problems. – Face them head on. No, it won’t be easy. There is no person in the world capable of flawlessly handling every punch thrown at them. We aren’t supposed to be able to instantly solve problems. That’s not how we’re made. In fact, we’re made to get upset, sad, hurt, stumble and fall. Because that’s the whole purpose of living – to face problems, learn, adapt, and solve them over the course of time. This is what ultimately molds us into the person we become.
3. Stop lying to yourself. – You can lie to anyone else in the world, but you can’t lie to yourself. Our lives improve only when we take chances, and the first and most difficult chance we can take is to be honest with ourselves. Read The Road Less Traveled .
4. Stop putting your own needs on the back burner. – The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too. Yes, help others; but help yourself too. If there was ever a moment to follow your passion and do something that matters to you, that moment is now.
5. Stop trying to be someone you’re not. – One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that’s trying to make you likeeveryone else. Someone will always be prettier, someone will always be smarter, someone will always be younger, but they will never be you. Don’t change so people will like you. Be yourself and the right people will love the real you.
6. Stop trying to hold onto the past. – You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one.
7. Stop being scared to make a mistake. – Doing something and getting it wrong is at least ten times more productive than doing nothing. Every success has a trail of failures behind it, and every failure is leading towards success. You end up regretting the things you did NOT do far more than the things you did.
8. Stop berating yourself for old mistakes. – We may love the wrong person and cry about the wrong things, but no matter how things go wrong, one thing is for sure, mistakes help us find the person and things that are right for us. We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here NOW with the power to shape your day and your future. Every single thing that has ever happened in your life is preparing you for a moment that is yet to come.
9. Stop trying to buy happiness. – Many of the things we desire are expensive. But the truth is, the things that really satisfy us are totally free – love, laughter and working on our passions.
10. Stop exclusively looking to others for happiness. – If you’re not happy with who you are on the inside, you won’t be happy in a long-term relationship with anyone else either. You have to create stability in your own life first before you can share it with someone else. Read Stumbling on Happiness .
11. Stop being idle. – Don’t think too much or you’ll create a problem that wasn’t even there in the first place. Evaluate situations and take decisive action. You cannot change what you refuse to confront. Making progress involves risk. Period! You can’t make it to second base with your foot on first.
12. Stop thinking you’re not ready. – Nobody ever feels 100% ready when an opportunity arises. Because most great opportunities in life force us to grow beyond our comfort zones, which means we won’t feel totally comfortable at first.
13. Stop getting involved in relationships for the wrong reasons. – Relationships must be chosen wisely. It’s better to be alone than to be in bad company. There’s no need to rush. If something is meant to be, it will happen – in the right time, with the right person, and for the best reason. Fall in love when you’re ready, not when you’re lonely.
14. Stop rejecting new relationships just because old ones didn’t work. – In life you’ll realize that there is a purpose for everyone you meet. Some will test you, some will use you and some will teach you. But most importantly, some will bring out the best in you.
15. Stop trying to compete against everyone else. – Don’t worry about what others doing better than you. Concentrate on beating your own records every day. Success is a battle between YOU and YOURSELF only.”

Read the rest 16-30 and full article here: Full Article at marcandangel.com

CREDIT: Full article written by Marc at Marcandangel.com HERE

Photo by Rob Brucker

143 thoughts on “30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself

  1. I love this article. It’s inspiring and validating of the wisdom I’ve accumulated after 61 years. Thank you!

  2. This should be required reading for everyone. It is so simply obvious, and we see this everyday, but never take the time to sit down and realize the importance of these 30 suggestions. Thanks to the author! It is a confirmation to my spirit.

  3. I bookmarked it to keep on reference, cause lord knows I’m not done ‘fixin’ myself yet. It’s a work in progress :) But these are such core principles of healthy, earnest living that even kids can benefit – and that’s why my kids are going to have to read it today!

  4. Excellent, excellent advice. Thank you so much for posting this! We all need to be reminded of these things from time to time, and I’m so glad you reminded me of them now!

  5. Pingback: 30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself | CREATE YOUR GREAT LIFE »

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  7. I’m thinking there’s the words I needed to hear!! I’ve been going through a difficult time this year.And what this says to me is go forward and let things fall as they may and love me for who I am not what people expect of me.Some people might not like it but I definitely will love me for it…

  8. Hey, I loved the article, too, but it is not appropriate to take someone else’s work and republish it unless they’ve specifically allowed it. You’ve copied the entire article and not mentioned the original author’s name anywhere, just provided a small “CREDIT” link at the bottom of your post.

    I suggest that you prominently recognize the author, provide just the first 10 items (or cherry-pick a few) and then refer people to the source so that the original author can get the web traffic for his own work.

    (I’m sure you’d want the same consideration for your own writing!)

    Thanks for bringing the article to my attention, though. I never would have heard of it without your site.

  9. A nice list of goals to work towards for anyone. I think a positive spin could have improved this—instead of “stop”… a “go” approach. One of my aspirations is to use the “positive opposite” when I make negative comments (eg. “Remember the keys” instead of “Don’t forget the keys”). Might as well, right? Best wishes.

  10. This was an “EXCELLENT” article and so true in every aspect. I’m going to print this and make this my goal for 2012. Thanks for sharing it! I have read it about 3 or 4 times now and realize how true things in the article really are! :)

  11. Hi there,
    Just a note to let you know that I just read a list of “30 things to start doing for yourself” at the following link…google it under that title at: http://www.marcandangel.com
    Either they copied it from you or you copied it from them…
    If they copied it from you, I thought you might want to know.
    Sincerely,
    crystal

  12. Thank you for sharing this with us. Thanks to at least 3 of us, (the person that I copied it from and the person who copied it from me) it’s now making the rounds via FB. At age 51, I’ve survived and/or lived through most of this. Just for verification purposes, I’d like to say that more accurate words have never been spoken. Be yourself! Enjoy yourself! And, your world will follow your lead!

  13. “its better to be alone than in bad company” is only something someone who always has some sort of company would say… spend enough time alone, without any friends or family or co-workers or almost any other living person (not by choice), and you will change your tune QUICK…honestly, and I know this is bad to say, but I have found myself actually wishing for ANY company, good or bad….better than perpetual lonliness…… also, quit with all the “meant to be sh!t”……there is not such thing as fate. nothing is preordained.

  14. bunch of fluff. the phrases “meant to be” and “happens for a reason” kept popping up and i had to stop reading because i started looking for a melon baller to scrape my eyes out of my skull, but i am at work, and would get in trouble. there is no advice more useless and less comforting than “if it’s meant to be…” or “everything happens for a reason.”

  15. CHECK THIS OUT!!! :) I love it cuz it can help us by reminding us what we r doing n will need to do from now n on! :)

    Regards,

    Susan

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  17. This is an amazing list! Number 3 is one of the most important ones for me to realize and change. Thanks again for taking the time to post this.

  18. This was such a great list to read. If most of us are honest, we can related to at LEAST a few items on this list!

  19. A beautiful well said article with the exception of #18. You MUST hold grudges and give foregiveness when forgiveness is due! Forgiving someone who betrayed, lied cheated or otherwise hurt you is an open invitation for them to do it again. Hold that grudge and warn everyone else of what that person did to you. Forewarned is forearmed!

  20. I enjoyed reading all of these and found something about myself in each
    and everyone of them that i could work on. Hopefully, i can put some
    or all of these suggestions in place in the coming year.

  21. #31
    Most of us who have lived long enough have learned the lessons of “Things not to do to yourself”. We do have to remember that while reflection is enlightening, it is a lifelong journey and not something that is achieved after reading a list ………………..

  22. Listen to all you negative people and your negative comments. Its a great article and if you don’t agree with the phrase “if its meant to be it’ll be” we don’t care, maybe you dont feel that way but alot of us do so go post your negativity some place where some one cares!

  23. So true, if you are in your 20s, but if you only read “The Road Less Travelled” by M. Scott Peck, then you don’t know that 20 years later he no longer espoused buddhism but had become a Christian (washed clean in the Blood of the Lamb)… weird how you and wikipedia focus on a book he wrote before he was fully evolved and don’t even mention his later work… which was the True representation of his being. Kids! I wonder what you will think when you become grownups… not like this article, that’s a given.

  24. P.S. There are a lot of things to STOP doing in this ‘article’…. I haven’t wasted my time on ‘stopping’ anything for at least 30 years. A total waste of time, really.

  25. #31. Use common sense
    #32. THINK before you _______

    And, exactly, how can 23 & 24 exist in the same list let alone consecutively? Perfection is relative (yours is not mine) but it’s important to strive to be as perfect as you can be.

    #33. Know your limits
    #34. Learn to think for yourself.

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  28. I absolutely love this! It’s crazy but all 30 apply. It’s very encouraging. I love the first point. Life IS definitely too short to be spending time with people who suck the happiness out of you! Thanks for that!

  29. What an amazing article! Great words of wisdom to follow for life’s success and happiness. I will start off my 2012 right with these great advice!

  30. Several years ago I went to a day long class and the biggest message I took away from it is “Don’t “should” on yourself or others.” I’ve tried to live by this advice ever since.

  31. I am bookmarking this article and will read it from time to time as a reminder of the potential of my life. I have learned some of these and need to work on a few others probably like everyone else! Thanks and happy new year!

  32. Really helped me and put things in perspective. Just going to do me in 2012 and worry about myself. It’s about time I stopped to do things for myself and still for others just not everything for everyone else and learn to appreciate me. Thanks!!

  33. Everything that this article has been written about makes sence, you will live longer with much of what is prescribe in this article. Many Blessings for everyone.

  34. This is so good and so timely and so all over where I am right now!! Thank you for reposting it and I have now done the same.

  35. Add a 31st: don’t post articles written by others but rather post a link to their article. Copying the article and re-publishing it, even with attribution, is copyright infringement.

  36. Thank you! Just when I needed that inspirational motivation the most!!! Perfectly written and so very very true!

  37. I’m with Zan. It’s a great list and article, but every single comment you have received on it here should have been posted on marcandangel.com’s site. If you have reposted with permission, please say so clearly and if you have not, then you have done a great disservice to Marc and his original post. To reference it and react is quite worthy and acceptable. To copy/paste the entire post, not so much.

  38. Marc your wisdom and experiences have proven to be invaluable and look forward to 2012. Thanks for sharing and motivating.

  39. Glad that I’ve grown past most of the “Things not to do” and acknowledge that I am very guilty of this one: “4. Stop putting your own needs on the back burner”… ALTHOUGH I MUST SAY I MY SELF SACRIFICE IS LIMITED because I do manage to “follow my own passion.”

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  41. I LOVE this ! This is what I have constantly reminded myself for at least 20 plus years thanks to my many awesome mentors and friends. I still find that I need to remind myself and take action! ” Doing gets it done” Tommy Callahan “

  42. Thank you for this blog post. It’s just what I needed to start my new year in 2012. I’m going to print it out in beautiful font and frame it in my room above my bed. This is so amazing and every word spoke to me on such a deep level. Amazing.

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  44. Thanks for pointing me to this article and blog. A lot of the “resolutions” are great reminders and Biblically based: Don’t covet. Don’t be jealous. Don’t judge. Don’t keep bad company. Don’t worry. Count your blessings. Be thankful. It sounds like a good recipe for 2012 to me!

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  46. I saw this on theknot.com and absolutely love it! It inspired me to write one for brides (not because I’m a crazy random person… but because I’m getting married)

    Thanks for sharing!

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