FIVE IMPORTANT LESSONS FOR THE TWENTIES AGE BRACKET.

At the time of writing this blog, I’m a 26-year-old person. I’m writing it while in the middle of my 20s. I am a no better person and what I will write here is fetched from both my personal experiences/lessons and bits of advice I’ve received from my elderly friends.

The 20s age bracket, especially 24-30, is such an intense period. Some people feel lost, one day you feeling so energetic for life, the next day you feel sick and confused about what your life is all about. Sometimes you want to take it easy and just chill but the next minute, you’re out there stressing more because you’re not working on what’s already making you stressed. I keep asking my age mates what life is for them. Most of the answers revolve around: “Life is tough” — that’s most of our favorite form of expression towards our existence these days, isn’t it? Tough because we can’t stop thinking about what’s coming our way. Tough because we spent the past few years in denial, that we are growing up. In denial that we want to make it big but don’t know how. This is the time where you can make it or break it. And bytheway, that confusion is important. Don’t be scared. Know that it’s okay to be confused. CONFUSION is the beginning of CLARITY. Keep moving forward and taking bold steps. Now, sit back as I take you through 5 lessons I have learned in my 20s.

1. Avoid competition.
In the 20s, we always feel like we are being left behind because we’re rushing against a clock that doesn’t always make sense. In the 20s, we are scrolling down on our friend’s social media to check what they are doing. And when they seem to be doing better than us, we feel as if we are stagnating in life. Whatever we do here is about what we saw someone else do. When you see your former classmate catch a flight to Dubai, you break into a self-pity laugh and mini anxiety attack all at once. You start questioning your life now and then when your friends have graduated and landed jobs. Stop that! In this competition, you won’t win.

Effects of competition.
It makes you focus on your competitor instead of focusing on your progress. You’ll always want to know your competitor’s progress, what he/she is doing, and the decisions he/she is making. Focusing on your competition requires a significant amount of time and energy and it will result in you putting less focus on your goals.

Results in you making bad decisions. When your sole aim is to outdo your rival, you’ll use your competition as the basis for decision making. For this reason, there will be high chances of making poor decisions because you won’t take time to make decisions that are in alignment with your goals.

Competition makes you impatient. Success in anything requires patience because things take long to manifest in the physical world. However, competition makes you impatient because it makes you desire quick progress so that you beat your rival. Besides this, when competing, you’ll be impatient because you’ll be in a race. You’ll always want to rush things to avoid the humiliation of being outdone.

2. Read books.
Reading books benefits both your physical and mental health, and those benefits can last a lifetime. It is one of the most powerful investments you can do to yourself. According to a Yale University study, people who read books live for around two years longer than those who don’t, irrespective of gender, wealth, education, or health. We are taught from a very young age that reading as much as possible is the pathway to success. Picture the smartest, hardest-working person you know, and chances are you picture them in a library reading for hours on end. While simply being an avid reader does not ensure success, successful people are assuredly avid readers. If you are in your twenties and have not read a book, please do so.

3. Make use of technology.
Before I talk about this, are you on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or Twitter? If you are not on any of these giant social networking platforms, then what are you doing with your life? Everything a human being will ever need is now found on the Internet. Some very smart young people, the likes of Faze Rug, Mo Vlogs, etc., are even making millions of money using Facebook and YouTube.

We are slowly transitioning from the analog era to the digital world and it is your responsibility to make sure you’re not left behind. The smartphone you are holding right now is a complete production house. You can use it to research how to cook, how to set up a business, how to use your time, how to make money etc. The information and knowledge people in the early 2000s paid money to get can now be found on the internet for free. Why are you taking such precious privilege for granted?

4. Don’t get married early.
I know this will spark mixed reactions, but I know what I’m talking about. Don’t rush into marriage while in your early twenties. No matter how necessary it seems, JUST DON’T. Marriage is far less important than you think. And I want this to sink deep into you. It’s a little bit controversial to be against young marriage. It seems like everybody wants to honor the benefits, like how pregnancy can be easier in your twenties than in your thirties. Or how precious young love is, right? But are modern lives built for successful and happy young marriages? I don’t believe they are.

Successful marriages, and really, any successful long-term relationship takes emotional skills and self-awareness that people in early (and even middle) twenties frequently lack. This is not a suggestion that nobody can make a young marriage work. It’s merely an observation that marriage is much harder when you don’t know yourself or where you’re going. And most young people don’t know where they are going because their twenties are a time to sort it all out. When you know yourself better, you will be in a good position to know what type of person you want to spend your life with. Romantic love is wonderful, but it’s not a life calling. Your husband or wife isn’t “your path,” and no, that’s not romantic, that is problematic. When we romanticize marriage and treat it like our life’s mission, we sell ourselves short on accomplishing something great for us. Just us. Or, for the whole world.

5. Serve God.
Serving God in your twenties sets you on the right path. The Bible says in Proverbs 22: 6 that Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. In other words, in the 20s, start yourself on the way you should go, and even when you are in the 30s or 40s you will not turn away from it. The book of Ecclesiastes 12: 1(a) puts it better, Remember your Creator in the days of your youth. The God who made us deserves our most active and healthy years: our bodies are strong and muscular, our minds are sharp and clear, our senses are receptive and keen and sensitive, our enthusiasm is bright and bushy, our wills are steely and determined. Remember Him in your 20s

Do you feel I have left out on some points? Let me know in the comment section. For more enquiries reach me through info@sammyquen.com.

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