Life Lessons of a 21-year old.
- Be tough on yourself, but be kind to others.
- Be bold, but be humble.
- Never settle for mediocre — be the best at it or just don’t start it at all.
- You can’t fight fire with fire.
- It’s OK to take breaks and do nothing — it’s so important to recharge and not go full speed all the time. (I know, it’s a bit contradicting with #1 and #3)
- You can’t be a leader for others when you can’t even be a leader of your own life.
- You can’t expect people to always meet you at 50/50 — that ratio differs from people to people, and you should be flexible with that.
- Discuss and reflect on what you learned, rather than what happened.
- Don’t settle for “IDK,” but at least have a hypothesis or a prediction.
- Success is a moving target.
- Confidence builds by doing.
- Consistency is key.
- You’re the manager of your own network.
As 2020 and my college years come to a wrap, I wanted to reflect on the bigger lessons I learned as a young adult in the hopes that others would also empathize. (The term young adult still feels so foreign to me, because I genuinely still feel like I’m 16.) You might find that some of the lessons contradict with each other, which reflect my changing values throughout the years. Maybe you might also disagree with some of the lessons, and that is totally cool, as we all learn different things from the different experiences that we go through. (I would love to hear yours though!) Each life lesson has a story related to a bigger, singular challenge that I overcame or a series of smaller, recurring events that I actively or passively went through.
I must say, this point of my life feels oddly relaxing as I wait to receive my undergraduate degree in 5 days and start my full-time career in the coming 8 months or so, all while in the comfort of being with my family as we patiently wait and wait for the pandemic to end. But I genuinely mean this — 21, thank you for all that you’ve taught me.
A little disclaimer: I am 22 now.
#quarantinethoughts #lifelessons #21 #2020 #college
