Being Eighteen
Looking back at 2016 makes me put on my glasses, get a cup of coffee and enjoy the introspective mood that I’m in while writing this article.
The last year has been a culmination of experiences. Whether good or bad, I’m glad everything turned out to be how it did, because I’m at a very comfortable spot in my life right now. I have my personal and professional goals in check, friends & family I can depend on, and a fair idea of how I want the next 365 days of being 19 to pan out.
Here’s a few rules/ideas I followed this past year which I personally believe shaped up to where I am now:
1. Seize the opportunity
Being 18 in 2016 was great. The widespread social media revolution has made it easier to follow interests you’re passionate about, start learning new skills, and kill time on memes (guilty as charged).
Anyway, what’s important is to understand that the world around you is full of opportunities. Whether it’s friends you hang out with on the daily or a mutual friend who might turn out to be your next startup’s co-founder. What’s important is constantly expanding your social sphere.
What’s great about meeting new people is how often I get surprised thinking to myself — “Why didn’t I ever talk to them before!?”
So talk to new people — it’s not about switching your friend’s circle every week, stick to close friends because they’re the ones you’re going to go for advice but get to know more people. Expand your network, and seize the potential opportunities you get, because constantly developing yourself is the key. Read more about my article on living by the ‘Do More’ mantra on how to always get out of your comfort zone and explore new interests.
2. Take up initiatives
A college is a great place because there’s bound to be someone in that place who’s passionate about the interests same as you. Your goal is to find them and grow together. I’ve been extremely lucky to find my core group with whom my ideas resonate and we’ve even started an initiative, because
We believe that if you’re looking for something that doesn’t exist, it’s your duty to make sure that it does now.
We call it TheLabs, our main focus is building an automated platform which helps in assessing prospective applicants to relevant job opportunities. It’s an exciting project and we’ve all been working extremely hard to make it a reality. To connect with the student community, TheLabs has decided to expand into various colleges and universities across the country. The idea is to promote skill development. Something that most college graduates in today’s world lack. Whether it’s a technical skill or developing yourself professionally, we’re trying to imbibe these key concepts into today’s youth.
Another step I took towards being an entrepreneur was starting up Notebit, my e-commerce venture to promote happiness and positivity through products such as notebooks and posters and I couldn’t be any happier with our progress. Launching our own website in December, we’ve received a lot of love on our products and also some valuable feedback which has helped us make our service better and more efficient. I have great plans for this year, especially in terms of this venture because it’s a new field and that motivates me to learn more!
3. Writing
I’ve absolutely fallen for this, whether it’s penning down my personal life or topics/morals that I follow. Fortunately, I found friends who have been writing for a while now — and they were super welcoming towards me. (Special mention to Tanishq, Adwait, Akshansh Jain, Asmita — ❤ you guys.)
It’s amazing to see how much nicer it feels to write about something and then have people message you saying they relate to your stuff!
So I’m going to be doing a lot more of that this year. (This one being an active effort towards the same!)
2016 has been great to me, and I hope 2017 is even better. The one thing I’ve realised over the past 365 days is that you need to be passionate, hard working and seize the opportunities that come your way because you never know which one might turn out to be the path you go down for the rest of your life.
Ciao to being 18, 19 — here I come!
