A message to my 16 year old self (in case some day we can time travel)
The challenge in leaving a set of instructions to a 16 year old is, that they would perhaps not read it ! Or they would not understand it. Or worse, they would still go ahead and do what they feel like, such is the adrenalin rush.Given that I’ve more than doubled that age, the rapidness of change in our lifestyles are nothing short of dramatic.What is applicable today, perhaps did not even exist yesterday.
One can safely say, life could be divided in two parts BI and AI – Before Internet and After Internet.All the five senses added new facets to their erstwhile exposure and understanding of life. Life as we see it today was dramatically,not marginally, but dramatically different.
So what does one say that transcends time and withstands the AI information overload?
- Its okay :
- Its okay to fail.
- Its okay to not know.
- Its okay to not fit in.
- Its okay to be different.
- Its not okay :
- to give up your instinct.
- to give up what you love doing.
- to not be accountable for the above.
- to not have a timeline for each failure.
- Life is about opposites.
- Everything that you know or do can have an opposite angle to it.You might think that it is a zero sum game in the end, but hold on to that analogy till later in life. Take any example.
- If you are too extreme, life will bring you back to normalcy in positivity or negativity by way of circumstances.
- If you are too mediocre, then life will push you to excel.If you are too quiet, you will be expected to speak up, and if you are loud then you will be expected to shut up.So be aware that there is nothing called absolute truth to what you do or know or experience, it is only a matter of time and a function of mass consensus that define our understanding of life.
- You will never be able to please all the people all the time, yet if you focus on pleasing yourself all the time, then you become narcissistic.
- Create more than you consume.
- Find ways and means of creating, leading, more than following and waiting.
- It brings challenges and hardships but also serves as the backbone for your life.
- Attention to detail brings you closer to reality.
- Differentiate between Ambition and Wishful Thinking
- Its okay to be ambitious but not be restless about it.
- Its not okay to constantly float from one thing to other,it becomes a habit.
- Dream big but also make sure you are close to reality.
- Emotion and objectivity need to be balanced out.
- Family.
- If you are blessed with a good family, a normal family, then stay blessed and count your blessing.There are scores of people who are not privileged to have a regular loving family and its tough for them. Really tough.
- Don’t ever ridicule or belittle your family – you exist because of them.
- Don’t fear challenging your family if you see something wrong.(life is really about opposite see?) Because change begins at home.Before you set out to change the world , change yourself and your home first.
- Friends
- The best friendships happen early, and last test of time.
- Dont mistake good acquaintances for friends.
- True friends or friendship is often formed under adversity.
- There will always be richer friends with fancier items.
- You will always have something they don’t – find it and treasure it.
This is by no means an exhaustive list.There are obviously many more facets and angles, which I will add in subsequent posts.But for starters, this will more or less give you and idea.
GB
The Gyan Ban Times 