This is a work in progress. Last updated at 12:54 IST on 30 Oct, 2021.
I’m 22. I don’t know what life means, or what I’m going to achieve a decade from now. I feel however, that I can offer a few words of advice to younger students if they wish to do well in life. Most of these have been tested for many years of my life and produced satisfactory results for me.
12-16 years:
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Read a lot. Take time out to read books/articles. A few examples of texts you can read include your textbooks, books on climate change, on morality and ethics, economics, poverty etc. The point is not to master these topics but have a sense of what goes on in the world. Trust me, your worldview would change so much and you’ll get fresh perspectives on many things.
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Sleep well. I wish I slept more hours during these years. Take care of your health, go out and play and don’t be afraid to break things. Fiddle around with anything you find around you.
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Self-teaching. Teach yourself the ability to learn new things on your own. At some point in the future the society will stop ‘spoon-feeding’ you. It is best if you develop the ability to consume knowledge on your own. This leads me to my next point.
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Make friends. Be friends with people who may or may not think like you. It’s not even necessary that you be interested in the same set of things. Your friend circle can make or break you. If you have a choice between spending some time with a friend and studying to score a few extra marks in some test, choose to spend time with your friend.
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Have fun. Amidst all the hustle, remember to have fun often. Of course, you should be focussed on your work but it is important that you have fun. You’ll be a much better person overall and learn to appreciate the brief happy moments of life before life starts to take a toll on you.
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Live away from home. Try to live away from home for a year or two before heading to college. You will learn to be in-charge of things. That makes you a much better person, who takes responsibility for the good and the bad.
18-26 years: I’ll write about this when I’m 40 or so.
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