Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog. If you’re new here, welcome! How is everyone feeling? I’ve been waiting for summer all year long and now that summer is here, COVID decided to make another grand entrance. We’re witnessing a new wave over here in Haiti and if the last one didn’t hit us badly, this one came with full force. Anyways, COVID or not I must stay productive and this is why today I’m coming with a new article.
If you’re in your 20s just like me, I am pretty sure you have once asked yourself :”What am I doing?” “Am I where I was supposed to be?” “What’s going on?”…. A lot of questions that no one can actually answer. Being in your 20s feels like a battle against yourself and against the world. You feel lost and you don’t know which steps you’re supposed to take next. I don’t know how it was for the generations before me but when I look around I can see that a lot of us in my generation are struggling. Today I’m going to list a few things that I have learned and still learning in this journey.
1. Always set your priorities. If you know me then you know I’m always saying this. Whatever you’re doing in life, your priorities have to be loud and clear. When I was younger, my mom used to say all the time : “Now your priority should be your studies, you’ll have time for other things after”. I used to hate it when she said that because I felt like I was trapped and couldn’t have fun but now I understand her better. If you don’t have priorities it will be hard for you to reach your goals. You’ll get lost trying to do multiple things at the same time.
2. It’s ok to feel lost. I can’t count the amount of times I bursted out crying because I didn’t understand what was going on. Some days I felt like time was running out and I didn’t know what to do to stop it (I still feel this way). After graduating high school, you know that your next step is college but when you’re done with college you realize that no one prepared you for this. What am I supposed to do now? That’s when you start questioning your strengths: “Will I ever be successful?” Even if you feel like you are lost and don’t know what to do next : Do not panic!! If you’re a believer pray and ask God to show you the way. Like I always mention in my articles, life didn’t come with a manual book. We only know what’s wrong and what’s right. It’s ok to make mistakes. Malcom Forbes once said : “Failure is a success if we learn from it”. Failure isn’t the end. You’re stronger than that.
3. Start saying no. It was hard for me to accept that not everyone has a big heart like I do. Back in college I was always doing the work for others. It was almost impossible for me to say no (still struggling with it to be honest). I had friends who were in different colleges, yet I was doing homework for them. When you get to your 20s, you got to start thinking about you. There will always be people asking you to help them with some things and when you say no they will be praying for your failure. Sometimes those people are closer to you than you think. Don’t get me wrong, it’s okay to help others but you need to know when to stop so you can focus on you. You also need to say no when people are dragging you in the wrong direction.
4. Ask for help. “If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together.” Whether you like it or not, you will always need people next to you in order to succeed. Don’t let your ego get in the way, if you need help, ask for it. There will always be people willing to help.
5. Accept that things happen for a reason. Although some people always disagree when I say that but in life, everything happens for a reason. Maybe you didn’t get this job because somewhere out there a better job is waiting for you. That’s why it’s important to always keep going. Even if you fall hard, make sure you bounce back 10x higher. Everything that happens in our lives is a lesson, whether it brings happiness or sadness. What matters is how we’re going to recover from it, how we’re going to use this experience to grow and become a better person.
6. Always put yourself first. Out of the ten, to me this is the most important thing. All my life I always take in consideration other people’s feelings before making a decision. Whether it’s with friends or family members. If I know that my decision would hurt them I would literally just give up and not do it even if I’ll be hurt in the process. Sadly I had to learn the hard way that I should never seek validation from others. People will always do what’s best for them regardless of how I’m feeling and it’s time I start doing the same too. If you want to give up on something that could make you happy just because it could potentially hurt other people in the process, take a minute and ask yourself if those people would’ve done the same for you. If the answer is no then do it and do it without regrets. At the end of the day your happiness should be your number one priority.
7. Start saving money. Your 20s are the most important years of your life because that’s when you start preparing yourself for adulthood. Once you start earning money, you must make up a plan on how you are going to save money. You will need money to be fully independent, to buy a house for example or to handle unexpected situations like emergencies. Your parents are getting old and they won’t always be there to provide for you. You’re going to have a family on your own that you will need to provide for. Money come and goes. You can spend a month trying to earn money and it disappears in one day. The best thing to do is to have a saving account and to put as much as you can on it every time you get paid.
8. You will lose friends. People change…. and when it happens we realize that there are some people that we no longer need in our lives not because we hate them but because we’re no longer going in the same direction. I’ve lost more friends in my 20s than I’ve done in the 19 years before that. Some after huge fights and others disappeared just like that. For some of those friendships I felt hurt and betrayed but for others I just accepted that it was for the best. Life is like a public bus, some people start the ride with you, get out of the bus mid ride while others get in the bus. You will most likely not get to your destination with the ones who started with you. This is really hard because you have to let go of some people you thought would play a big role in your life but you’ll also meet people who will have a meaningful place in your heart and your life.
9. Do not waste time. Time is your most precious resource as we say all the time. It’s the only thing you can’t get back no matter how hard you try. In your 20s you’re supposed to enjoy life but you should also be careful about wasting your time doing the wrong things. If you want to be successful you have to work as hard as you can to make it to the top. Steve Harvey once said that successful (rich) people don’t sleep eight hours a day. While you’re out there sleeping, the stock market has already opened somewhere and people are making decisions about your life. In your 20s, you should use your time wisely.
10. Love yourself. This one is self-explanatory. Love yourself because no one else will do it for you. Take care of yourself and always aim towards things that make you happy as long as it doesn’t mean to purposely hurt people. At the end of the day your happiness should be above everything else.
That’s it for today guys. I started writing this article since May, we’re already in July and I’m finally posting it. Sorry for the wait. Thank you for reading. Don’t forget to share it with your friends. Until my next article stay safe and be blessed…. Always. Xoxo!!!