22 Life Lessons From Twenty-Two Years as a Human Being
Today is my birthday and I just got hit with the fact that I’m old.
If only we could stop time.
For there is no more valuable resource.
Not money, not objects, not attention, but time.
Over the course of it, I like to say I’ve been relatively observant.
At 22 years old today, I’ve compiled a list of my realizations and recollections.
Enjoy…
22 Life Lessons from Twenty-Two Years as a Human Being
01 To take a step forward, you may need to step back…
Life is no straight line. Interestingly enough, this was brought to my attention during my retirement investing phase. I saw my account value go up, only to dip down and rise higher than it had been before. It made me realize that in life, you may need to go back to eventually move farther forwards.
02 There is no substitute for hard work…
Someone I greatly admire said this to me. At thrice my age, he has built a life of love through hard work, determination, and cold-blooded effort. There’s a saying, “work smarter not harder,” and this remains true. The key distinction though, is to never abandon your ability to work hard.
03The body is a temple, treat it as such…
This is huge. Since I was a small child I was a gifted athlete. I cherish the ability I was given and will never cease to improve my health. It sounds cliche, but the body is our vehicle and we must keep up with its maintenance. This will become more vital as we age. At 22 years, you can get away with a lot. It won’t always be that way. I accept this for what it is: Reality.
04Spend less than you earn, invest the rest…
This can be a tough ask for a 22-year-old but it’s something I’ve sworn by for quite some time. Investing is a major hobby of mine and it adds a very important aspect to my life. Unfortunately, solely spending less than you earn is not enough. The “invest the rest” portion is arguably the most important part.
05Live in the present moment, eternally…
Eckhart Tolle was the first person to introduce this concept to me. Some people live in the past, some people live in the future, but rarely do we see people living in the present moment. The here and now. For a life-changing book that will teach you to stop watching those mental movies, check out the Power of Now by Tolle. You’ll thank me later but there’s no need.
06Believe in karma, even if you don’t…
I don’t know about you, but I believe in karma. To be honest, I never really looked into it, but I guess this could be rephrased as “what goes around comes around.” I’ve noticed an invisible law if you will, surrounding this concept. Put good into the world and I truly believe you will get good back out. This can work both ways, tread lightly.
07Find peace in suffering…
Suffering is key to pleasure. It may not be obvious, yet it is more true than anything I know. Take the runner’s high for example. You must dwell in the pain to gain eligibility for pleasure. I take this to an extreme with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu but it doesn’t need to be that intense. Start with a cold shower, you’ll understand what I mean. Suffer daily.
08Cherish your family…
Family is everything. I’ve been mocked for staying close to home and I smile in the face of it. I come from a broken family as some may call it, so staying close to the ones I love is important to me. Spending time with my grandmother has accentuated this. When it comes time for us to endure old age, we will appreciate the help from our families. Make sure you cherish them while they are here.
09Common sense goes a long away…
Common sense doesn’t seem to be so common anymore and it can go such a long way. Thinking before you act is a good way to employ this common knowledge. Ask yourself, “does this make sense?” If not, don’t do it. Common sense is not rocket science, that’s pretty much the whole point. Use ya head people.
10Create obsessively…
This has been one of my most recent realizations. Through writing and creating, I have found a new purpose. Putting my thoughts into existence has improved multiple facets of my life including communication, clarity, expression, and more. It also has a wonderful way of providing achievement, recognition, and satisfaction. Creating is just good. You should do it.
11Love yourself before anyone else
I think this one is a prerequisite to loving someone else. If you don’t love yourself, how can you have room for others? Mental health comes with massively underrated importance in my opinion and I think everyone should work on it. Through self-help books, internal reflection, and problem solving, I have placed so much love in my bucket, that it can overflow into my friends and family. Love is the energy or life, not merely a romantic sensation.
12Shoot for the moon and you’ll land in the stars…
Self-explanatory, I know. The higher you go the farther you fall, yes, but I’d bet you’ll land somewhere nice. After all, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take and you can’t score without pulling the trigger. Don’t be afraid to aim so high that you can’t possibly fail.
13Understand the power of compounding…
Einstein said it’s the eighth wonder of the world for a reason. The power of compounding is probably my favorite concept out there. The potential it provides is endless and can be applied to almost anything we do. My favorite application goes back to my hobby of investing. Compounding is incredible and you should take advantage of its capabilities.
14Develop emotional intelligence like it’s your day job…
Emotional intelligence is huge. Are you easily triggered? If you are, see what you can do with those emotions. They are very powerful and can have a profound effect on the way we live our lives. Emotional control is something we need to deal with every day. Living in the present moment is a great way to handle emotions. Don’t ignore them, use them.
15See the world and appreciate it
The best two weeks of my life were when I signed up to chaperone a teen tour. I had never heard of one before I participated, but essentially I supervised a bunch of high-schoolers while we went on a tour of the west coast (U.S.). I’m not a huge traveler mainly due to financial restrictions, but this was a great way to get out there and see the world. It’s something I could never regret. We live on the coolest spaceship I’ve ever seen, go explore it.
16The butterfly effect is real
For those of you who do not know, the butterfly effect describes the phenomenon of minor changes leading to major effects; a butterfly who flaps its wings can make waves across the ocean. This interestingly applies to my life. I turned on a UFC fight almost a decade ago, started training Jiu-Jitsu one year back, and now I get paid to write about it. Had the TV never “flapped its wings” by showing me the world of combat, you may have never read this article.
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17Stop worrying about things that are out of your control
It is impossible to control everything and we will never be able to please everyone. Some things are just meant to be left alone. This goes back to what we talked about during the emotional intelligence lesson. If you can’t control it, forget about it. If you can, work on it.
18Read religiously…
I was the biggest book hater in the world. There is no doubt I was that kid who said he read (for homework) and didn’t. Little did I know, it would go on to change my life. There are so many good books out there it’s ridiculous. With so many different mediums for knowledge discovery nowadays, books provide a great way to catch a glimpse inside the mind of an author. Modern versions of content fail to give that level of intimacy in my opinion. Books can change you, read them.
19Surround yourself with people you admire…
They say you become your 5 closest friends. I subscribe to this notion and think it is way underrated. The actions and ideas that are surrounding you often become your own. This can either be extremely beneficial or sadly detrimental. Pay attention to who you hang around with and decide whether or not it is good for you. These findings are crucial to your future.
20It pays to be a fly on the wall…
This is one of my favorite sayings. I use it in my articles quite often and it’s so true. If you could be a fly on the wall in a room full of billionaires, would you do it? Think of how much you could learn, how many lessons you could extract. Become an observer as you go through life, it will surely pay off over time.
21Face your fears…
Facing your fears is one of the hardest things to do as a human. Our natural reaction to fear is to run from it. The fight or flight response is real, however, I think it’s way safer to take flight. Our primal instinct is to survive and we only should fight when we have to. Facing our fears is a good thing because it will make us stronger. Try it sometime.
22Employ master patience…
I put this last because for as long as I can remember, I have been the most impatient person in the world, or at least it feels that way. I’ve consciously worked on this to turn it subconscious. Most people probably have more patience than I do so that’s a good thing. Everything happens for a reason and I’ve realized that sometimes, waiting is required. There’s nothing wrong with that. Let life happen.
Final thoughts
This was a very good exercise for me. I recommend you try it, maybe once a year on every birthday.
I cannot wait to see what lessons I can extract from the rest of my life and I am insanely grateful for the knowledge I have already acquired.
I hope you can take something away from this fun little listicle and if you did, let me know in the comments.
Life is so short, enjoy it!
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