Life can be a confusing, unfair, multifaceted existence filled with pitfalls and has very little in the way of guides that can truly help you through it. As valuable as support systems are, often they are inadequate or arrive at inopportune moments.

Our Today brings to you seven tips that can help someone in need of advice for personal growth and mental well-being.

Get in the habit of learning

Learning is fundamental and fun-to-mental. Besides the intrinsic benefit of improving your knowledge base, the act of learning in itself improves brain function and makes it easier to handle future stressful situations.

Forgive yourself

Beating yourself up repeatedly over past mistakes serves no purpose. Forgive yourself by learning from your past errors, and focus on becoming a better person.

Pick your pain

There are two types of pain in life: the pain of discipline and the pain of regret. Choose discipline now or live to regret it later.

Validation needs to be internal

Don’t chase the approval of others, prioritize what your soul needs and live authentically, irrespective of external validation.

You are what you drink, cut the sweets

70 per cent of your body is water; every change in your body happens with water. Eliminating sugary drinks will have a significant impact on health with minimal effort.

Be prepared

You don’t have to have all the answers, but you should have questions and insights prepared. For most tasks, ranging from school to work, if you know something is going to happen, take steps to prepare beforehand. If you know you have a class coming up, make time to read up on the topic beforehand, if you know there is going to be a meeting, prep yourself before it begins.

Read ahead, learn what’s been said, and learn to be cognizant of what people expect to keep yourself from being caught unaware.

Start now

Don’t wait for the perfect timing before embarking on any task or project. Take action now, one of the hardest things to regain is an opportunity, and one of the hardest things to lose is regret.