The early twenties is a golden time of life
I don’t regret the way I spent my early twenties. That was the best part of my life so far. But there are a few better ways to live your early adulthood.
My intention here is to help every lost soul who is in their early or mid-twenties to learn from their past mistakes but not dwell on any. The day you choose to be a better version of yourself that’s the day your life takes a beautiful turn.
A smart person is someone who learns from his or her mistakes, but a smarter one is someone who learns from another person’s mistakes.
So go on friends, here are a few nuggets from my experience so far. Feel free to adopt any of the suggestions that resonate with you.
Use Time Constructively
Dabbling into multiple things at once is what I was doing most of the time in my early twenties. Yes, it’s time for exploration.
Humans are usually under the assumption that they will live forever. I recently read a book called Four Thousand Weeks. The average span of human life is 4,000 weeks during which we perform all the activities including sleeping, working, eating, commuting, and many more.
Does this seem forever now?
If you’re 21 you’ve already lived approximately 1,100 weeks of your life which is as good as one-fourth.
Takeaway: Life is short, do things that make you a better human being and bring out your best self.
Eat Healthily
Back in the day, I used to be reckless with my health, eating junk food 24X7. This thought makes me cringe right now, how irresponsible I was.
Fast forward to 2023, I’ve learned my lessons the hard way. After falling sick frequently I changed my lifestyle.
It really did me good.
Your body is your best friend, it’s gonna stay with you till your last breath. Make it a good place for your soul to live. Consume healthy food that is gonna do you good.
Takeaway: Food’s taste lasts hardly for a few minutes; the nutritional value of the food you consume will impact how you look and feel.
Make Better Connections
One of my mentors once told me, to always look out for relationship building.
At the end of the day what’s going to count is how many lives you touched. Everything else takes a back seat but if you have better connections, that’s going to make your life easy.
Takeaway: Meet new people and develop deeper relationships with the ones you are drawn to.
Don’t Quit
Ahh, I’ve quit a lot of things before finally finding something that I wanted to do for a long period of time.
Nothing comes easy, if you find something worthwhile go after it. Till the time you’re in the experimentation phase, it’s alright.
Once you’ve found your calling, keep going, and show up every day.
Takeaway: Quitting your dreams is easy, but showing up every day is tough. Choose what’s hard today to live a life that’s easy in the long term.
Avoid Short-Term Dopamine Spikes
With smartphone penetration and social media usage increasing with every passing day, cheap dopamine is easy to find.
As per Statista reports by 2023 end, there will be approximately 6.9 billion smartphone users across the world. Humanity is heading towards Dopamine Junkies because it’s so easily available.
It’s 3 a.m. and you find yourself laughing at funny cat videos. It’s not going to do you any good.
Seek natural ways to increase dopamine by eating healthy food, exercising, and meditating.
Treat yourself with Therapeutic Massages once in a while, it works wonders.
Takeaway: Stay away from cheap highs.
Forgive More
People make mistakes and so do you, holding on to grudges is going to do you more harm than good.
I’ve lost many valuable people because of being unforgiving. Not a good idea.
Let things go more often, if someone has wronged you- come to terms with what went wrong and forgive them.
Some people have a tendency to keep repeating bad behavior, it’s best to maintain your distance after you’ve learned your lesson.
Takeaway: If someone you truly value has made a mistake, give them another chance.
Regret Less
I’ve done many things in the past that I’m not proud of.
Do you have any regrets? I’m sure there will be a bunch.
Regrets are hard, but they are in the past and the past can not be changed. It’s best to move on and try not to repeat the same mistakes again. Rather than bogging yourself down by feeling sorry for yourself.
Takeaway: Make mistakes, learn your lessons, and move on. Don’t keep crying over split milk.
Make Online Friends
The early twenties is a time when you’re freshly out of grad school with a lot of friends.
Gradually as time passes, you’ll keep losing the grad school friends. It can get lonely.
Find your tribe online, and reach out to like-minded people. Get to know them, learn from them. You never know who you end up meeting, there are a bunch of interesting people out there.
Be wary of bullies at the same time, I encountered one on Twitter yesterday. Some of them can be very nasty, don’t let that get to you.
Takeaway: Send cold messages to people you admire online, and you can end up meeting great friends.
Establish Boundaries
I grew up in an Indian household, and as stereotypical as it may sound, some Indian families lack boundaries.
The earlier you learn to establish boundaries, the better it will be for you. Boundaries will establish a sense of self-respect within you that is of paramount importance.
I read a book called Boundaries, which gives a crystal clear perspective on how strong boundaries can help you lead a balanced life.
You can be there for people, and at the same time look out for yourself. The essence is to live a healthy life, not a life where you lose yourself while being there for people.
Takeaway: Have healthy boundaries.
Read More
I like reading more than watching movies. My imagination gets rocket fuel and flies to different lands while I read.
Develop a habit of reading early on in your life, it will not only help you become a knowledgeable person but will give you new perspectives on life.
Start reading fiction that’s the best way to develop a reading habit. JK Rowling has given this world a gift of the Harry Potter Series, I engross myself time and again in the Harry Potter books.
That’s how my journey of reading started.
Takeaway: Read and enrich your life.
Date More
I did not date a lot in my early twenties, so I give you this suggestion.
Go on dates and meet people, it’s not necessary that you’ll find your penguin in the first person you meet but you need to know what you’re looking for in a relationship.
Keep it discreet but go for it, it’ll help you know different kinds of people that exist and who to stay away from.
Takeaway: Twenties are the time you will figure out what you want in a partner.
Start Writing
Almost in all the articles I write, I tell you how writing has changed me as a person.
It gives me clarity and the best part is I get to share my learnings with a lovely bunch of readers like yourself.
Writing has given an utterly confused 21-year-old Prakriti, tons of clarity.
It’s that time of the day when I put together my thoughts on multiple things like Self-improvement, Fitness, and Lessons from the books I read.
One bulleted piece of advice that I have for you all is to record your day-to-day activities by writing, it will change your life.
Takeaway: Write down your thoughts to gain clarity.
Break More Rules
I’ve been a rule-breaker all my life, flouting every possible confinement I was put in.
Trust me it did me good.
No one can define how you choose to live your life it’s best to build your own perspective toward life.
Takeaway: Rules are put together to imprison individuals, be free-spirited if you want to lead a fuller life.
Take Life Problems Less Seriously
I’ve been dead serious most of the time, not something I’m proud of.
Take your troubles less seriously, nobody’s life is all roses. Everyone is hiding huge baggage behind their smile.
If a world-renowned scientist Albert Einstein can choose to be silly in public, what’s stopping you from being silly?
Takeaway: Take yourself less seriously.
Get Smart With Money
Personal Finance should be taught in school, unfortunately, the academic curriculum is not designed in that fashion.
Self Learn how to manage your money well. Be it having monthly systematic investments, health insurance, and term life insurance. Do your homework and stop spending your bucks on unnecessary things.
Takeaway: Learn personal finance if you want to build wealth.
Don’t Trust Everyone You Meet
I was naive back in the day, but I’ve learned my lesson the hard way.
Time and experience is the best teacher, in terms of forming judgment w.r.t who you can trust and who to stay wary of.
It’s rare to find people whose actions match their words, stay cautious of such people.
Takeaway: Gauge for yourself as to who to trust.
Go Abroad for Undergrad
Living in a new country can teach you tons of lessons, from learning a new language to adopting a new culture. It’s going to be an uncomfortably wonderful experience.
I regret not going to a foreign country for undergrad, but India is like a continent in itself. I’m from North India and I studied in South India, it was a fun ride experiencing the vast difference in culture, food, and language.
Takeaway: Experience new cultures in your twenties.
Meditate
The earlier you learn how to spend time focussing on your breath without getting carried away by your thoughts, the better it’s going to be.
Meditation has tons of benefits, I will draw a simple comparison here- like working out is necessary for a fit body, meditation is necessary for a fit mind.
Takeaway: Learn how to tame your mind with meditation early on.
Early Riser
I used to be a night owl back in my early twenties.
Now I’m an early riser, mornings are the best time of the day when being creative comes easy to me.
Benjamin Franklin, The Founding Father of the United States quoted
“Early Morning has gold in it’s mouth.“
Give it a shot, you won’t regret waking up early and spending some quiet time with yourself while the world sleeps.
Takeaway: Being an early riser is a great micro habit.
Be In the Present
I’ve wasted many precious moments of my life worrying about the future.
Bhagavad Gita says — Only Present is the Reality, relish it to the best.
Live in the moment and rejoice in every bit of it, as I write this piece I feel my fingers pressing against the keyboard, and being mindful of it gives an uncanny satisfaction.
Takeaway: There’s only one reality- The Present. Learn to live in it.
Accept People for Who They Are
Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I’m wise so I’m changing myself.
~Rumi
No one in the world owes you anything, how much ever you try no one will change how they are for you.
You have two choices either accept people in your life for who they are or move on from them. Sounds simple, is very difficult when you try to adopt it.
I’m not going to lie, it’s difficult for me to accept this. But that’s the reality.
Takeaway: No one will change because you want them to change, better stop trying.
Closing Note:
It was a long read, my friend, thanks for coming this far.
Early adulthood is the best time of your life, live it to the best and have interesting stories to tell your spouse and kids later on.
Hi friend, I hope you enjoyed this read. Share it with your friends and family so that they can benefit from it.
Check out the Medium Profile of the author for more such reads. This post was originally published by Illumination.
