What to do in your 20s to make sure you have a life that’s a little easier as you get older.
I’m going to start by saying that I am in my twenties and these are the tips and stories I’ve heard and visited in my journey through time.
I could go along the route of saying “Drink more water, eat healthier, exercise.”, but that’s generic. Something that has been regurgitated many times doesn’t invoked emotion. It’s not personal or spiritual. For this route I’ll be taking that way, help you see things for yourself.
Take advantage of the knowledge that is out there.
1. Mainly that falling in love is not overrated, it’s the single most amazing experience to feel as a human in my opinion. To be hopelessly in love and pursuing the haррiness you felt with that significant other is absolutely one of my favourite feelings (Not that it has occurred 100 times per say). Why is it so frowned upon to say you’ve fallen in love young? Does the older generation think we can’t feel love because we haven’t experienced what they have? Or that we don’t even know ourselves or understand the emotions we feel. This is not fair because which adult actually does understand themselves and their feelings. Very rarely will you meet someone who has their shit together. This brings me to my next point. Accepting yourself, falling in love with yourself is part of this process… Being a friend to yourself is so important but yet often overlooked. If you cannot sit still and be by yourself over a period of time… You have a problem my friend but remember everything can be fixed. :) Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
2. Setting yourself up for success. This can mean many things but in this case I mean it in the sense of financially. That drink in the club that is worth so much at the time is rather dispensable and a few days later, after all the money you’ve saved up in the week for one nights out is gone. I’m not saying don’t enjoy yourself, don’t party, don’t be young, what I am saying is everything needs to be in moderation. Set yourself up for the security money brings, save… because when you get to your thirties and forties and things become more important than those drinks and those hangovers even your body will thank you for it when you’re in your fifties. Never too early, or too late to invest and save for the future. I know I would save more if I could, there is never a better time than now.
3. Brighten your horizon. The world is a lot larger than you think, filled with many people with many opinions and tonnes of knowledge. What I mean is… don’t get stuck in your own ego. Have confidence, not arrogance. Now the difference is rather noticeable with someone having either traits. Anyone with confidence gravitates towards confidence and positivity… arrogance attracts arrogance. Confidence is something many people don’t have, there are many blames to this but why blame when you could spend more time being confident. So be creative and cooperative with yourself (remember the love we spoke about earlier) and improve yourself. When? Well, it is more obvious than you think. A quiet confidence is a great asset to have but arrogance is not.
4. Learn to sell. You’ll always have to sell something in life to get somewhere or to even sell yourself. Learning sales teaches you so much about people, in the sense of understating how people work, how to get something out of the conversation, how to acquire something they have, how to reset yourself in a way that is more liked. Find a way to get sales done to a tee. Not those Instagram and YouTube gurus selling courses on everything from sales to marketing. Real world experience in sales teaches you rejection up front, how to be confident even when you aren’t, how to get yourself out of a tough spot with nothing but your words and even better… to grow.
5. Be comfortable with being uncomfortable. As you get older, life throws many types of objects at you, some may hurt, graze your skin, bruise and even knock you to the ground. All of these are means of making you uncomfortable, it’s going to happen a lot and more than you think. Brush the knocks off, stand up and embrace the uncomfortable and you’ll see just how quickly things will change for you in a sense of power. Standing steady on your own two feet, so important.
6. Learn to say no and yes objectively. Also learn that saying sorry when you didn’t do anything wrong is NOT okay. This is a matter of personal pride. You are valid and so are your feelings, but just portray them in a way that is acceptable and easy to understand. No one wants to be around someone with poor communication skills. For instance, say no when you’re uncomfortable and don’t apologise for it. When a friend asks you to try drugs with him or her for the first time it’s okay to say no. And it’s okay to not apologise for it as well. Say yes and don’t apologise for it when a friend offers you advice and help when you need it and don’t want to seem weak or insecure, say yes.
7. Like minded people is how you’re going to move forward in life. If someone is not on the same page as you, you’ll find yourself stagnating. Breaking all kinds of relationships for this point is okay. Growth is important, your own journey needs to move along too just as everyone else’s, keep in mind that sometimes holding on is more painful than letting go. Letting go is here too because it’s not something we can do easily without pain… pain is something we can’t get away from… but, there are positives everywhere we look.
8. Break things up. I’ve always been one to see years into the future. My dreams and goals are too big to accomplish in the matter of a few days. This is a problem I’ve had. I have not done thing is small bite size chunks but rather eating a whole pizza in one mouth full and instead of swallowing it, id vomit it out and have to get a new one. This is merely a metaphor for breaking things up and doing them in smaller steps. You’ll be surprised by how much you accomplish doing this. Instead of taking freezing cold showers for the first time, gradually change the water temperature and work your way up to being able to take cold showers. Instead of stopping your cigarette addiction today, gradually decrease the amount of cigarettes you smoke by reducing it every day or week. Instead of getting 6 pack abs from one gym session, get a programme for 6 weeks and train as often as you can as well as eating healthier. There’s no rush, Rome was not built in a day.
There are many things that one could go through, don’t take my word for it. Try it out and see for yourself. Try learn from your own mistakes and take the history that’s been shown in front of you to learn from. Everyone experiences their own emotions, feelings. Events vary from one another. Seeing it for yourself, feeling it for yourself… that’s what is important.
