Every now, and then I have a lot of my mind, and cannot help but go into a mantra esque rant. Well lately I have had a lot of my mind, and I’d like to share some points with you:

Everything you do in life involves you putting yourself out there, and when you put yourself out there you are risking criticism. You could very well be the nicest person in the world, and you would still have opposition. Not everyone is going to like you, or like what you do. Don’t let it get to you. Turn any negativity you receive into positivity, let it fuel you to do better, and rise above it. Quite often opposition results from petty matters such as plain jealously, or simply plain vindictive dispositions. So don’t take it personally, and take pleasure in the fact that at least someone is opposing you. It’s a far greater thing for someone to oppose you than for them to be absolutely indifferent to you, at least it shows they feel something about you. Most importantly never let it upset you, or stop you from doing something you want to do in life.

Integrity is one of the best qualities anyone can posses. Stand up for what you believe in. Never sacrifice a part of yourself for anyone else. You are who you are. If you change let it only be for yourself, and never anyone else. Don’t throw away, or hide away parts of yourself, embrace them, and use them to your strength, and advantage. No one else is quite like you, and you are special. You may have your downsides, but you have your positives too – focus on those, and build upon yourself; try, and develop as much as you can as a person… but only do it for yourself.

Yes, a bit of a cliché, but still a valid point. It may not be easy, however sometimes tough love is the only thing that works in life. Try to think of things in retrospect, and don’t give in prematurely. In the long run it will make the difference. Have a back bone, and certainly don’t give in.

Manners go a long way in life; do hold the door open for that girl struggling with her bags, do say thank you to that person that just passed you that pile of paperwork, do say excuse me as opposed to barging past, do apologise when you should, do say please when you request something. These are somethings people often seem to forget in today’s society. In fact the lack of general manners actually disgusts me. Do engage in common courtesy, and do expect others to do the same. Manners don’t cost a thing, and they really are priceless. There is no excuse for not having good manners, and remember chivalry isn’t dead.

The Victorian’s got something right, and that is the concept of the public, and private face. There are some things in life you should keep to yourself. In this day, and age with technology, and social platforms such as Twitter, and Facebook becoming integrated parts of our life it is especially important to watch what you say, and how you represent yourself. You are your own brand whether you realise it, or not. Everything you say, or do publicly including online effects your brand image. Present yourself in the way you want others to see you, and keep some things to yourself for your own good, and for the sake of other’s mental being well also (some of the things I read on my Twitter feeds, and on Facebook do certainly disturb me…). Nothing is private on the internet, and things do have a way of coming back to bite you on the arse literally. It’s mainly common sense, but if you want to be known for all the wrong reasons go for it. I can assure you that you will regret that decision one day. If people want to make themselves unemployable, or come across as cheap harlots on the internet so be it I guess, people never cease to amaze me in all the wrong ways – but I hope people realise they are better than that.

Imitation is always referred to as the sincerest form of flattery. Well when someone does imitate you in life it certainly doesn’t feel like it, in fact it can make you feel absolutely awful. It makes you want to be less ‘you’, but whatever ever happens don’t give into this. You have two choices; you can either rise above it, and take solace in the fact that some one is essentially a cheap imitation of you, or if it gets too much call them out on it. At the end of the day people only imitate people because they have something lacking themselves. Human nature is parasitical; obviously we all take little things from each other, but some people take it to piteous extremes. Do pity them, and just remember an imitation is never as good as the real thing.

I hope perhaps you’ll find something at least in here slightly insightful. Some of it may be patronising yes, but some things do need to be said sporadically.