Spectator by Seema Goswami: Mess around and find out
Live while you’re young. It’s the time to make mistakes, experiment with jobs and relationships, and flirt with new cities
I always thought it was a bit of a cliche. But now, as I grow older, I am beginning to think there is something to that old aphorism: “Youth is wasted on the young.”
And as I get on in years, I realise that there are many things I wish I had known and appreciated better when I was young. So here, for the benefit of my younger readers, are just some of them, in no particular order of importance.
Make the most of the luxury of time. When you are young, you have your whole life before you. There is plenty of time to make mistakes, to change careers if you so wish, to call time on a relationship if you feel it is not working. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that just because you have spent a few years in a job or a relationship it is too late to start afresh. This is actually the best time to do so, when you have decades ahead to make good on these changes.
Don’t be in a hurry to tie yourself down to a particular city by buying a house and saddling yourself with an onerous mortgage. Yes, it may seem like a waste of money to pay rent every month with nothing to show for it. But what you are paying for is flexibility, and the ability to up sticks and move when a better opportunity presents itself. That is far more important at this stage of your life than the stability that your own house (and the EMI payments that come with it) represents.
If you are lucky enough to have some disposable income, then don’t spend it on material things. Instead, invest in experiences that will give you memories that will last a lifetime. That designer bag will get dated in a year or so. But that trip to Italy or Egypt or Japan with your family or friends will remain fresh in your mind forever.
Make the most of your fitness levels because they will decline with every decade of your life no matter how much time you spend in the gym. Don’t put off that trip trekking in the Himalayas or walking the Alps because you think you have all the time in the world to do that. Your knees will give up on you sooner than you expect and then you will regret the holiday not taken.
Don’t make the mistake of confusing your job with your life. You may think that you can make up for lost time with your family once you have clambered up the career ladder. And that all those late nights at your desk will be worth it when you finally make it to the corner office. But by the time you do, you may well have missed that magic window when your kids needed you the most. And not even the biggest salary bump will make up for that time lost forever.
From HT Brunch, December 21, 2024
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