It’s a Saturday, and you’re feeling lighter than usual. You’re relaxed and subtly happy that it’s finally your day off, after a long week of 45+ hours of work. So you get out of bed, freshen up and start writing your to do list. It primarily consists of tasks related to personal finance, reading long saved articles, checking your taxes, doing chores, fixing your vehicle and taking care of your health. The list expands beyond your expectations and you know that you can’t check all those boxes in one single day. So you take a step back and decide to take things slowly, for a change.
You close your eyes and ask yourself, “what would make me feel at peace this weekend?”. And you know the answer lies inside of you - focusing on yourself. So you decide to take a break from your unending to do list tasks, and make a fresh new list - one that makes you feel at peace. Doing pranayam, doing some light exercises, driving to your nearest creek to watch flamingos, spending time with your mom, watching your favourite cartoon Kiteretsu, drawing & painting to relax your mind, reflecting back on some recent times, and sleeping early. You know this is not your usual weekend, but you also want to tell yourself that doing these small things makes you capable of doing the larger things.
You start by reflecting on how your life has changed in just 3 months. Just a few months ago you were in college, enjoying your last days as a student and now you’re working a full time job & have completely orthogonal priorities. You spent 2 months with your college friends, partying, staying up late, spending time together and enjoying every bit of the day. You finally graduated from college last month, clicked iconic convocation pictures and bid everyone a soft goodbye. All of your friends are moving to new places and you are happy for everyone, except you know that “you” haven’t figured “it” out yet.
Most of your friends are moving to another city to start their first jobs, many others are moving to different countries for their masters, a few others have gotten into IITs and IIMs - fulfilling theirs & their parents’ dreams, a couple others have started working at bigass Tech giants and some are just choosing to live their life to the fullest, doing whatever and going wherever their heart takes them. And here you are - freshly 22, choosing to work at a startup over a Multinational Tech. You’re grateful that you get to work at your dream company, from home! You’re journalling your way through days and, slowly & steadily, you’re ticking the boxes. So none of the paths that your friends chose, were for you. You are zigzagging it all out and finding peace your own way. Isn’t that how we all grow (& also grow up)?
So, what exactly does life look like, at 22? It certainly doesn’t look like what it does in movies or in television drama, but yes - you do take charge of your own story and become the main action character. You’re okay with not partying every weekend, in fact, peace and reflection is all you’re craving for. You’re okay with not being “that cool person” but you’re also willing to work your ass off on whatever is shot at you. You aspire to be as wise and knowledgeable as your Mentors and Managers and you’re ready to do everything it takes. You take advices that say “You’re young, you have time on your hand!” and decide to work harder. You become comfortable with not being the person who already has their path all carved out. Afterall, you have figured your way up until here, so you’ll also figure you way ahead and you’ll love it.