I recently came across an Instagram post that shared some life learnings. You know, it was in a cute infographic and caught my eye. It offered things like sharing positive vibes and trying to avoid toxic people. Sure, these seem simple, right? But what really caught my attention was that the account creator mentioned these were things she learned later in life. Again, they seem pretty simple, but how many of us actually, consciously try to share positive vibes on a regular basis? Do we really try to stay away from those who bring toxicity to us? A light bulb went off for me. Some life lessons and the biggest learnings from life do take a long time to realize, acknowledge, and adhere to. 

Life learnings fall into all categories, health, financial, relationships…maybe one of yours is don’t eat a whole bag of Oreos in one sitting or don’t do the advanced yoga class when you’re only just starting out on your mat. Those may fall under health. And we all hear tons of relationship advice, maybe we even take some for our own life lessons. But what about work and our professional lives?

Because our team is 100% remote and located all over the world, we have created an interesting community and team. I know that I’ve personally learned a lot from this situation and working from home; I love it. Maybe my learnings take place chatting with coworkers in another part of the world and learning that not everyone lives like me or learning how to manage my time to work successfully at home.

Sometimes you just have to stop and think, what have I learned? What’s my journey about? Remember life is a journey and so is learning. When you take note of what your own journey is teaching you, you can apply this knowledge you’ve been gifted. So, acknowledging those lessons isn’t always enough, you have to apply them, too.

The thing is, learning never stops. And the more you can take ownership of lifelong learning and acknowledge and apply it, the more impact it can have. No matter how great our lives are, we can always grow and learn. And this will make them even better. Let’s take a moment to dig deep and think about what we’ve learned over the past year. A closing year is always a great time for reflection. Let’s not take things for granted; let’s acknowledge and apply our learning gifts. I know sometimes I have to stop and think, and when I do, I see a world of gifts.

We took a little time and asked some of our team members what they consider some lessons of life. Remember, here we are all working remote and looking for balance in our lives. Let’s see what our team has to say:

Jorge Rodriguez, Data Analytics Lead

It would be something along the lines of:

“If you try and persevere you can learn anything you set your mind into. Hard work is more valuable than innate talent in the long run.”

Johnathan Sanchez, Pro Associate

I’ve learned that I shouldn’t be afraid or ashamed to raise my hand and ask. I’ve had more regrets from the questions I’ve kept to myself than from the answers I’ve gotten to my questions, even if those questions make me feel like a fool in the moment.

 I know I need to keep learning, that there are SO many things I don’t know but I need to be a better person, and it’s definitely worth it to see where those questions are able to lead me in my personal and professional growth.

 That’s one of the best things I’ve gotten from Bunny, I have the chance to have a conversation with ANYONE in the company, and the knowledge I’ve been able to get from their experiences is invaluable.

Maria Alejandra Giraldo, Full-Stack Developer

 I think that my biggest learning must be to raise my voice; sometimes, when you work in technology, you run into companies and colleagues who make you doubt the importance of your own voice or that what you are saying has value.

 One of the things that I realized working at Bunny is that I always had that inside me, but this company made it emerge. I realized that in an environment where I feel respected, valued, listened to, I can propose and grow, and I’m not going to accept anything less than that again. That has allowed me to improve as a professional, as a leader, and as a person. I’m daring to make the changes that I want for myself and my environment.

Claire Linegar, Customer Experience Associate

 I would say my biggest learning from life has been to never let people judge you for who you are, music or movie taste, career or education choices, or anything. Do you and let live.

Daniel Prieto, UX Tester, and Researcher

  •  Practice what you like and learn from those you admire. Someday, someone will look up to you.
  • Don’t stop learning.
  •  Help others as much as you can.
  •  This is your story and you are the one telling it. Don’t allow it to become a “choose your own adventure” for someone else to decide.
  •  There are more ways to tackle a problem than we are led to believe.
  •  Enjoy what you do and do what you enjoy
  •  There’s no such thing as a dumb question. It may open a whole new world of possibilities.
  •  Enjoy the small things in life.
  •  You don’t stop playing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop playing
  •  Semper ubi sub ubi > Latin for “Always wear underwear.”

Serhat Alkin, Backend Engineer

  •  Don’t be afraid of stepping outside of your comfort zone and taking risks.
  •  Learn from mistakes.
  •  Don’t let negative thoughts kill your confidence.
  •  The best time to start learning is NOW. Not tomorrow or another day.
  •  I love each and every one of these. And maybe, even though we asked this in a professional sense, just maybe these lessons aren’t only applicable to work life.
  • It’s a great time to take a moment and look inside to check on your own life lessons. Maybe this is difficult for you, so here are a few tips to help.
  • Sit in a quiet space without distractions

 

Know these are YOUR life lessons. You don’t have to share them if you don’t want to.

Look for that silver lining. Maybe your year wasn’t great, but how can you turn that into a valuable lesson.

Look at all aspects of your life, from professional to friends and family. Notice the gifts you have.

Remember it’s all a gift! Continue to learn and relish that importance of lifelong learning.

Take note of the gifts and lifelong learning lessons in your own life. Remind yourself of them often and continue to strive to use your knowledge.

Life is full of gifts. For us, our remote work is one of them. We love it and value our opportunity to create this global team, learning and growing from our interactions with one another. After all, who better to learn from than a loving, global community?