I recently turned the big three-oh! Hitting 30 is quite the milestone: we’re done with school, start to make significant strides in our career, and are finally on a path of self-understanding and self love. No lies here, I won’t say I wasn’t terrified, because I was. Thirty: I’m an adult, an actual adult now. Gone were my twenties: the time where recklessness was given a pass, and people threw around the term “youth” at us. However, I realised that ‘youth’ in its simplest meaning isn’t what defined me. I am not my age. I looked back at my twenties, and it was a decade filled with ups and downs, and an insane amount of learning curves – for all that, I’m grateful.
Where do I see myself in 10 years? I don’t know! Do you? Does anyone, really? I personally don’t believe in putting together 5 and 10 year plans; they’re more of an obstacle – a hinderance even – to any potential a person can really achieve. What I’d really like to do is spend the upcoming decade living in the here and now and not try to contain myself in a box chock-filled with cookie-cutter expectations. People change, thoughts change, and I don’t want to limit myself to turning into a person I may have wanted to be at one point or the other. I’m pretty excited about what my thirties have in store for me – whatever it may be – so bring.it.on!
To wrap up, here’s a list of 30 things I wish I could’ve told my 20 year-old self, and things I’ve learnt over the last decade:
- Love yourself.
- Don’t be scared to be different and do things differently.
- Always try to be the best person you can be.
- Don’t dwell or hold grudges.
- Never compare yourself to others.
- Be you! Don’t be ashamed of who you are.
- If you fail, try again, and again…and again.
- Appreciate your parents and what they’ve done for you.
- It’s okay to be vulnerable; allow others to see you at your worst.
- Nothing is impossible.
- Never bottle up your emotions. Cry, kick, scream, and shout if you have to.
- Laugh your heart out. Laugh lines are a sign of a life well lived.
- Exercise more. It’s fun (promise!).
- Tell your family you love them.
- Friends are the family we choose – pick them wisely.
- Travel more. It’s both enriching and humbling.
- Learn to forgive (even without an apology).
- Don’t harbour negative feelings, they will only make you feel worse.
- Change is growth.
- Never lose your passion, no matter what it is.
- Make sure your job doesn’t interfere with the more important things in life: your health, relationships, and passion.
- Always look at the bigger picture.
- Put good out there and you will be rewarded.
- Hold on to and learn from people who help you bring out the best version of yourself.
- If it seems too good to be true, it most probably is. But hey, a learning curve’s a learning curve!
- Own up to your mistakes, and celebrate your successes.
- Yoda said it best, “Do or do not, there is no try.”
- It’s the small things in life that count; learn to appreciate them.
- Make an effort at everything you attempt.
- Love.
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