Life hands us a lot of lessons along the way. We just have to be alert and pay attention.

Someone recently passed along a link to a piece called “19 Things I Wish I Knew Earlier In Life” by Sibyl Chavis, a Harvard Law School Grad who created the website “The Possibility of Today.” She started it after making the commitment to stop complaining for 40 days. That commitment grew to 5 years, and, as she said, she never looked back.

I was drawn to the title of this piece because, like the author, we often think, “If I had only known then, what I know now.” A number of the items on this list resonated with me. In particular:

• It was never about fitting in or changing. It was just about finding your way to continually uncover more and more of who you really are.
• Even if you can’t see things working, there are always good things going on “behind the scenes” and coming your way.
• The only real difference between a rainy Monday and a sunny Friday…is your perspective.
• You can have fears and still take steps forward. In fact, that is usually how it works.
• It’s always too early to think it’s too late.
• Sometimes it’s not about having all the answers, and seeing all the turns, curves and the exact path forward; it’s just about trusting, leaning in the direction of what feels right, and focusing on living the day in front of you in the absolute best way you can.
• If it really wasn’t possible, it would have never crossed your mind. Your dreams are your possibilities.
• If there is something you feel deep down is right for you, then you must have infinite hope and infinite patience.
• When it comes to your purpose, you should either be doing it or looking for it. It’s okay if it evolves or takes you awhile to find, but realize there is no substitute.
• When you’re really ready to move on, you will stop focusing on what happened and start focusing on what’s going to move you forward.