To all the 22-year-olds in the world, this one's for you. Go out there and conquer the world, it is your age to emerge victorious as you race across life's timelines, striding in the zeal of your highest vigour. It is an obligated way of living, a mere bane of existence, to become the worthiest and most appealing object of praise, a token of appreciation that glorifies the lineage of the family and has accomplished the major milestones that are deemed to be benchmarked and embraced as laid down by our society and the ones that surround us. While it is exemplary in its due course, that one’s being turns out to be exactly as one expects or rather one is expected to perform due to their externality. But truth be told, most of us are still discovering the true calling of our spirit, which sets wilderness to our endeavours and makes us content yet unsatiated for eternal excellence in its pursuit. If you are one of the many 22-year-olds who like me is figuring life out, I see you and here are 22 reminders I always give myself whenever life strays its discourse from abundance to animosity and despair from time to time.
- You miss 100% of the shots you never take, you might fail but what if you fly.
- Failure is better than having a regret that lasts for a lifetime.
- Live life as a means to be your most excellent self, not for a public display of others.
- You owe nothing to anyone else but everything to the dreams you saw for yourself.
- Little by little is better than nothing at all.
- No one is coming to save you from your darkness, be the light for yourself.
- Comparison is a thief of joy.
- The person who you need to compete with is the one who you were yesterday.
- Your perception of yourself and your life shapes your reality
- Fall in love with yourself and watch how your existence falls in love with you
- If makes you happy, it doesn't have to make sense to anyone else.
- Take a break from things you cannot control, and live a little
- For the sake of your mental health, you don't have to know everything
- You are here doubting yourself whereas others are afraid of your full potential.
- Celebrate your small wins every day.
- When you learn to be happy alone, you become truly free
- There is no age to achieve anything, take your life’s stride the way you want to.
- Whether you live your life like a lion or like a sheep, no one has the authority to tell you how you want to forge your existential realm.
- Smile, it might not relieve your pain but it will add happiness to your life's game
- Hold the ones who make you happy close.
- Relax it is just a chapter in the book of your narrative and not the entire story.
- Lastly, love yourself and accept yourself for who you were, who you are, and who you are about to become.
As I turn 22 today and look back at the journey, every aspect of it, the light and the darkness, the smiles and the tears, the aspirations and the fears, fosters the person I am today and I cannot fully say I am grateful for it all, but all I can is no matter what I have been through I am in complete acceptance and peace of who I am.