Get The Most Out Of Life After Graduation: A Letter To My Younger Self

Dear Younger Self,

You’re about to graduate and you look around as if you were pinned to one place and the whole world started to dance around you. It’s bit like the times when you were a little kid in kindergarden and everyone made you feel special on your birthday by singing around you. But now it’s different. You may be struggling to feel special, you may not even understand why you’re pinned to one place. Far from knowing, you are best friends with confusion at this point. You may be looking back at the time and years you just invested in what people call “education.” In any case, I just want you to know that where you go isn’t as important as what you get out of it. 

 

So, let me start by telling you to be patient. Yes, everything has a time. What you may want, and don’t have now may come later as you work for it. What you have now, you may not have later, so cherish it. Plus, graduating from a university or a school isn’t really “education,”-something you’ll start to learn as soon as you step out of that sheltered zone. In the years ahead, a wise friend of yours will tell you “there are years that ask questions, and there are years that answer.” So embrace that advice and be patient.

 

Whatever you do, don’t settle. Take everything that interests you now, and what will interest you in the future and blow it out of proportion. Learn from those experiences, and educate yourself by making mistakes and sewing wisdom. If you’ve figured out your goal, good, now think of how to make it grow better. You were told to keep walking, it is only up to you to decide when to stop.

“The best way to get approval is not to need it” //Paul Graham

Now, through the past and the years ahead you’ll have questions. Some will be answered for you, and for others you’ll have to seek answers. Trial-and-error your way to knowing better. At times you may not like the answers to the questions you had, but don’t let those moments deject you from continuing to ask; because without them, you’d be settling.

 

 

Other than knowing yourself, this is the second most important thing you should understand about life. You gotta’ build friendships. 

Start with yourself. Begin with experiencing who you are, and along the way you will start to meet people that are similar to you in, some that challenge you, and others that help you grow. Pay attention to them, and cherish them. Share your thoughts, your experiences and yourself with them.

Some people will have experiences to teach you; your parents, your relatives, your mentors. Some will simply choose to walk with you; your friends, your loved ones. And some will grow with you; people that work with you, that came and went, and the ones that see you as a friend from oceans away. Build with them.

 

Lastly, discover your passion & grow. Everything you have around you can teach you something. Didn’t like a person or a professor? Good, you probably learned something about yourself by coping with your time around them.

Found a quote as you skimmed through something inspiring? Great, it’ll probably stick with you for the rest of your life, or you may look up the writer and read more of his words. If you pay enough attention, and have what you love and want to do in the back of your mind, your intuition will help you shake off anything that might get in your way.

So dear younger self, be gentle, be open, and have integrity. Take what you’re given and make the most of it. Just like the ratio of a seed to a tree. Life will be good to you.

Lovingly,

Your Older self.