20 Things I Learned in My 20s
Published in
3 min readApr 26, 2024
- Revenge taken on others is always paid back one way or another. The universe has a way of balancing itself out.
- Being good to others is being good to yourself. The opposite is just as true. Being good towards yourself and taking care of yourself is being good towards and taking care of others.
- You can’t make other people happy at the expense of your own happiness. Trying to do so will make you bitter and resentful and your sacrifice won’t be well received.
- Don’t expect people to know what you’re thinking and feeling. Say clearly what’s important to you and what you expect of other people.
- If you want something, ask for it. Say it, write it, think about it and make it conscious to yourself. Your self will self-organise in miraculous ways to make it happen.
- Always start with trust no matter what you do. Whether you are beginning a new project, starting a new job, meeting people, entering a new relationship. Trust allows space for the universe to work for you.
- Allow people to make mistakes. Making mistakes is how we learn and grow. And how can you be so sure that something is truly a mistake?
- Welcome your mistakes rather than avoiding or defending from them. Making mistakes is how you grow. Ignoring them and sweeping them under the rug is to ensure you never learn from them.
- Always remain conscious of your sins.
- If you want to stop a bad habit, just don’t do it this one time.
- Your body can talk and disease is it’s way of telling you (your way of telling yourself) that the path you’re walking is not yours.
- Whom you admire and whom you envy says a lot about what you value most.
- You can’t help people who don’t want to be helped and you have no right to do so.
- Piety and puritanism nurture envy, bitterness and hatred.
- There is no improvement without self-reflection. Writing your thoughts and emotions down (journalling) helps you figure out what you want and how you feel about your current life circumstances. It helps you clarify what is important for you and your wellbeing.
- Media, in excess, will numb your thoughts, feelings and soul.
- It’s ok to say “I don’t know”. It is much more worthy of respect to admit that you don’t know everything. Also admitting this to yourself shows a humility that invites and engenders growth.
- You are not your thoughts and your thoughts are not all your own. Analyse and discern which of them you want to keep and build upon and which you want to discard.
- Have difficult discussions. The harder you find it to talk about something, the more important it is to have that conversation. If you find it difficult it means that you find it important. Having difficult discussions strengthens relationships. If it breaks them, then they weren’t true relationships and they weren’t worth investing in them any further.
- Always apologise when you realise you’ve made a mistake, no matter what position you are in or whom you’ve wronged. It builds trust and engenders respect rather than deteriorate them. It takes great courage and humility to admit you were wrong and it is a sign of maturity.
