Things I wish someone had told my 20 year old self

 

Oftentimes, you must be feeling that you wish that you knew some things earlier so that you could do those things better. Currently, I'm 23 and when I look back now, I also feel the same. Based on my little experience with life, I'm sharing some pieces of advice which can help you. While it's true that we can learn from our mistakes but life is too short to learn from our mistakes so try to learn from others' mistakes too!

This might be a long read but I can assure you that it's worth it.

 Make your health a priority

There is no point of having millions in your bank account if you are not healthy enough to enjoy your life. You would feel that you can do anything if you are healthy. So treat your body like a temple.

Don't stress out too much

Stressing out about pretty much everything is totally not worth it. Over 95% of scenario you are imagining in your head would never happen in reality. Worrying isn’t going to make it any better and not to mention its negative impacts on your mental and physical health. So worry less and enjoy more. Just trust the process and do what is needed, everything else will be taken care of.

Make the best use of college

College is not just for attending lectures. There also exists a world outside the academia which would teach you far more than books. College is the best time to come out of your shell. Learn how to talk to the opposite sex, learn public speaking, learn how to cook. Most importantly, make contacts as skills alone are not sufficient to find a job. Contacts will increase the probability of getting the opportunity to prove your worth.

Get your basics right

Eat nutritious food, fix your sleeping schedule and make it a habit of exercising at least 5 times a week. Just like a good foundation is necessary to support a structure, these habits will form a foundation for a good life. Just follow the above mentioned things and more than half of your problems will disappear.

 Be a well-rounded person

Yes, grades are important but it is equally important to have an overview about the world around you. Eventually these are the things which will help you to develop your personality and would be useful to you in ways you never imagined.

 Read as much as possible

Make it a habit to read books daily. Read about anything that interests you. Doesn't matter how much you read but make sure to read daily. It would teach you to think critically and open the doors to endless ideas that can change your life for the better.

Give a damn about your mental health and speak up when required

Have at least one friend in your life with whom you can share your deepest pains without any shame. Keeping everything to yourself would eat you alive. Don't be so hard on yourself always. Just because you fail sometimes doesn't mean that you haven't done your best. You are doing enough, remember it.

Don’t be afraid to piss people off

If you want to do something but are afraid to do so just because someone would not like it, then do it anyway. Because no matter what you do, there will always be people who would criticize you or wouldn’t be happy with what you did. Don’t be afraid to disappoint people when it comes you. You are under no obligation to make everyone happy. Remember you live for yourself, not for others. Once you become okay with pissing people off (when it is really needed), your life becomes way simpler.

 Learn how to be confident

Confidence is one of the must have quality in life. If you are having difficulty in developing confidence, at least learn how to fake it. Having a confidence can make you immensely attractive. Remember that having confidence can make up for many things you don't possess.

 Learn how to be happy

If you have money, fame, success but you're not happy, you've failed at life but if you're able to keep yourself happy in any situation, you've won. Failures and success are part of life which will teach you something every time but understand that there is no point of life. Ultimately it’s only the experiences that count. When you will be lying on your deathbed, you wouldn’t remember how many times you succeeded or failed but you would only remember experiences you have had, risks you had taken and adventures you did with your friends. All of our existence is a result of a mistake so don't try to find logic in everything. The only purpose of life is to be happy.

 Stop comparing yourself with others

Everyone has different stories. Don't use someone else's scale to measure your line. Nobody knows what you've gone through. If someone doesn't understand that and judges you wrongly, it's not your fault. Just remember that if you manage to do the best with whatever you have, you've succeeded regardless of what other people think.

 

Don’t be a part of a rat-race

When you graduate, some of your friends would be making more money than you, some would be making less and some would even struggle to find a job. Don’t feel inferior or superior. Just focus on your journey. You are not here to win any race. There will always be people who would have more intelligence, more money, more privilege than you. Don't feel sad for not having all of these as it's not in your hand. Make the best of what you’ve got.

 

Become financially literate

I can’t stress this enough. One of the best decision you can make in your 20s is to become financially literate. The most important thing you have going with you in your 20s is your age. Since you don’t have major obligations and responsibilities in this age, you can take risk. Start learning about mutual funds, stock market, compound interest and start investing. The earlier, the better. 

 

Fail earlier, fail often

We are taught from schools to not fail and that failing is a bad thing. I had read somewhere that ‘Fail early and fail often’ and I completely agree with that. In order to become wise, you need experience and that only comes from failing. Don’t worry about failing often, you only have to succeed once. People won’t remember your failures, they would remember your victories. 

Even when you screw up sometimes, you have time to recover from it as you are young. On the other hand, by not doing anything at all due to fear of failure, you will miss countless opportunities. Just keep failing but make sure you don’t repeat the same mistakes. Keep learning from each mistake and improvise with each successive step and your progress would skyrocket.

Don't worry, you will get your dream job, you will find your passion and you will also fail sometimes. That's life. Don't worry unnecessarily. Just do what is required and enjoy the process, the rest would fall into place. Remember you are here to live and make memories, not to keep score of your wins-losses.