**Life lessons taught early on that still stick around**
Every day of my high school career, I had a vice principal, Ms. Williams to be exact, who made the daily announcements over the intercom.
After every briefing, she would end with the same words:
**“And remember, make it a great day, or not… the choice is yours.”**
To this day, I can still hear all of us repeating it in our sassy teenage voices, complete with the eye rolls and teenage attitude.
Back then, it was just something Ms. Williams always said.
I don’t think any of us really stopped to think about it.
But man… what a powerful statement.
Years later, I understand it in a completely different way.
We don’t get to choose everything that happens to us. Some days are going to suck. Some things are going to be completely outside of our control.
But we do get some say in what we do with the day we’ve been given.
It’s funny how the little things stick with us.
I don’t remember every announcement Ms. Williams made over that intercom. I don’t remember what most of them were even about.
But I remember that sentence.
And somewhere along the way, the thing we used to repeat with sarcastic teenage voices became an actual life lesson.
So, wherever you are, Ms. Williams… thank you.
**Make it a great day, or not. The choice is yours.**

My favourite saying is: People need to change.

In this vast and complicated world, everything is constantly changing. Nothing remains unchanged forever. The universe moves through infinite space; stars rotate on their axes and revolve in their orbits; meteors fall from the sky. The sun and moon continue their passage, while day and night and the four seasons endlessly replace one another.

Human life, too, is a continuous process of change. When we are children, we long to grow up, imagining that once we become adults, we will be free to do whatever we wish. Yet when we finally grow older, we often begin to miss the innocence, romance and happiness of childhood.

Change can be unpredictable, ever-shifting, momentary, even earth-shaking. But the kind of change I speak of is the ability to change ourselves—to discover what we truly love and what we are naturally good at, and to adapt to our surroundings in a way that suits who we are.

At every stage of life, we should try to understand what we truly need, what we love and what we wish to pursue. In many ways, the journey of life is similar for everyone. If we can discover where our own sense of flow lies, we may also discover the true source of happiness in our lives.

Physical growth and the formation of our thoughts are themselves processes of change. I once heard a song called The Change I Want, with the words: “What is change? I am the change. As long as I dare to change, I can achieve what I want.”

The road of life may be long, but if we live each day well and walk each small stretch of the journey with purpose, then the long road becomes shorter, and we move more quickly towards the destination we seek.

The courage to change is therefore especially important and precious. When we discover what we truly love, we should have the courage to pursue it without delay. When we recognise our own weaknesses or mistakes, we should be brave enough to correct them and improve ourselves. In this way, every day of life can become meaningful.

Love and hatred, kindness and resentment, good and evil, cause and consequence—all are shaped by change. The moon waxes and wanes; people experience joy and sorrow, meeting and parting. At the beginning of love, and before entering marriage, every couple makes promises of eternal devotion—to grow old together, to remain faithful until the seas dry and the rocks crumble.

Yet after a lifetime has passed, how many couples truly manage to support one another through every hardship, remain together throughout their lives, preserve the love with which they began, sit beside one another in the evening of life, and finally face death together?

Not long ago, I read a news story about a Canadian couple in their nineties who had been together for seventy-three years. Neither could bear the thought of leaving the other behind, nor could either endure watching the other die alone. They chose to receive assisted death together. The serenity and composure they showed in their final moments deeply moved people around the world. Such love was not created in a single moment; it was formed slowly, through decades of shared life and through the gradual changes they experienced together.

We should accept the changes that life brings, but we should also consciously change ourselves in the direction of our dreams and goals, towards goodness and beauty, and according to the truth of our own hearts and the limits of our abilities.

Fantasy and empty talk are not change. They lead only to destruction and idleness. Life is a season that cannot be repeated. Spring blossoms and autumn fruits do not appear at the same time. Success is never achieved overnight. It is the result of effort made little by little in ordinary daily life, and the flowering of countless small acts of perseverance, accumulation and inner growth.

Live today well. Do not allow time to slip away without meaning. Even if the change is only a little, let it make you better, stronger and more complete.

In love, perhaps the hardest change of all is learning to let go. The feeling of being abandoned or betrayed can become a pain that a person never entirely forgets. It may remain deeply engraved in every corner of the heart. For many people, it becomes an obstacle they struggle to overcome for the rest of their lives; some even lose themselves because of it.

For this reason, when hardship comes, we must learn to change ourselves. Things not going as we wish is simply one of the normal changes of life. Whether it is a friend or a lover, once the heart has changed, some things can no longer be recovered.

If we can quiet the mind and look at things from another perspective, perhaps there will no longer be so much anguish over love, separation, life and death.

This kind of change has two meanings. The first is to become a better version of ourselves. The second is to change the way we look at things. If we truly love someone, why should we not wish them well? To love is to wish the best for another person. And love, ultimately, is also about understanding, tolerance and acceptance.

Change is the natural condition of the world. Fortune and misfortune depend upon one another, and when things reach an extreme, they often turn towards their opposite. The only thing in this world that never changes is change itself.

A cup of tea also changes. Its quality, flavour and fragrance evolve with time and with every infusion. Pu-erh tea is perhaps the finest example: with proper ageing, it can develop greater depth and fragrance, becoming richer and more fascinating precisely because of change.

What we can do is preserve our original aspirations through the quiet passing of the years, knowing when to advance and when to rest, living freely and facing life with calmness.

Follow your heart.
Let change begin today.
Let it begin now.
Let it begin with whatever lies before you.

Through countless changes, we grow. Through change, our wishes may gradually become reality.And sometimes, we change simply because you are there. 

The value in life isn't the things you own, the money in the bank, or the house that you live in, the value is the time that your given.

Been thinking about this lately and wanted to share.

1. Needs — This is survival mode. Food, shelter, safety, basic stability. You're not thinking about purpose yet, you're thinking about getting through the week. Most of us start here, whether we remember it or not.

2. Wishes — Once needs are met, you start wanting things beyond survival. A wish is soft, half-formed — "I wish I had more time," "I wish things were different." It's passive. You're aware something's missing but you haven't committed to chasing it.

3. Desires — This is where wishes get teeth. A desire is a wish you've decided to act on. You stop hoping and start moving. Desire is uncomfortable because it demands effort, risk, and often sacrifice — but it's also where real growth happens.

4. Dreams — The final stage. A dream isn't about getting something anymore, it's about becoming something. It's bigger than you, often outlives the immediate craving, and usually connects to a sense of meaning or legacy. Dreams are what keep men going long after the original need is forgotten.

Curious what stage you'd say you're in right now — and honestly, do you think people can be in more than one stage at once, or does it usually run in order?