12 Ways You’re Making Life More Difficult Than It Has To Be
You invite negative/toxic people into your mind. You let their opinions drain you, you listen to their bad advice, you take their criticism too personally and you see yourself the way they see you.
By 
Rania Naim
1. You’re afraid of failing or looking like a fool. You don’t try new things often, you take very calculated risks and you care too much about what people may think of your actions. A lot of times our fear of failure can really makes us live a life we are not happy with just because it’s safe. We should take risks for the sake of taking them not for the sake of winning.
2. You invite negative/toxic people into your mind. You let their opinions drain you, you listen to their bad advice, you take their criticism too personally and you see yourself the way they see you. It’s better to avoid toxic people in general but if you can’t then don’t make room for them in your mind.
3. You are too skeptical. You believe everyone has an ulterior motive, you don’t think people genuinely care about you and you’re always reading too much into what they say and do. It’s smart to be cautious but being too skeptical will only add a lot of stress and anxiety to your life.
4. You blame yourself. You’re always blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong – there’s a difference between taking responsibility for something and blaming yourself for it. Taking responsibility makes you find ways to solve the problem so you can move on, blaming yourself makes you too hard on yourself as you become fixated on your faults instead of finding ways to overcome the difficulties in your life.
5. You compare yourself to others. You’re always comparing and competing. Competition is healthy to an extent but comparing yourself to others can take a toll on your own well-being. Comparing makes us bitter and not thankful for what we have. If you must compare; compare yourself to who you were before and how to become a better person but don’t compare yourself to someone else.
6. You care too much about fitting in. You don’t voice your concerns or how you’re truly feelings so you don’t offend anyone. You’re always trying to please people. If you have to suppress who you really are to fit in, eventually you will lose yourself for temporary popularity. You should care more about making a difference than fitting in.
7. You think you’re ‘jinxed.’ Do you always think you’re unlucky when it comes to this or that? Do you think the world hates you? Do you think you have the worst luck in the world? We’ve all been through these phases before but to make it a habit that your life will never go the way you want it to be is the worst you can do for yourself. You can either look at life with a hopeful attitude or you will always be swimming in a sea of doubt and despair.
8. You can’t let go. You can’t forget your mistakes, you can’t forgive those who hurt you and you can’t release the grudges you held against people. Holding on to bad memories and ill feelings will weigh us down instead of lifting us up. Letting go of the past or the thing you can’t control will truly change your life.
9. You are easily dissuaded. You allow people to talk you out of your ideas or belittle your dreams. You think they know better and you don’t really fight for what you believe in. Sometimes you just have to stop listening to people and do what you think is right because it’s your journey and people don’t really have to understand it.
10. You see the world in black and white. We live in a gray world and seeing the world in black and white won’t get you very far. It’s good to find the balance between passion and reason and feelings and logic. Even though it’s hard but you will never be in a perfect state mentally or emotionally so it’s good to embrace the uncertainty and take the bad with the good.
11. You waste your time on things that don’t matter. You waste your day doing unimportant things or you spend too much time on social media or watching Netflix. Time is precious and life can be harder when you don’t get the time to work on yourself and do things that will benefit you long-term.
12. You’re putting off your goals and dreams for someday. You stopped trying to make them happen, you settled for the life that was given to you, you stopped believing that you have what it takes to make them happen regardless of the timing or the circumstances. Never stop chasing your goals and dreams because the day you get to achieve them is the day your whole life becomes easier and so much better. 
