21st Birthday – This article is inspired by and written on a theme that is very popular on the Internet: I wish I were “x” age. This is written with the idea of me completing 40 years on this earth and taking so much from Mother Nature and society. It considers the things or technologies I wish I had and the things I could have done differently, told myself to change, etc. I am neither a writer nor knowledgeable about inspirational story-telling.
On July 13th this year, I will complete 4 decades on planet Earth and have done my part in the “destroying earth project”.
At 40, yes, my parents were always right.
What so special – 21st Birthday
Since I was young, my aspiration has been to become an exemplary inhabitant of the planet Earth. Presently, I continue to foster this goal through my aspirations, ambitions, and endeavors. As my son currently stands at 6 years old, it is certain that when he reaches the age I am now, he will contemplate the remaining course of his life, and even more so at the age of 80.
To provide context, my relationship with my mother was positive. Although I am aware that my sentence has grammatical errors, I couldn’t come up with a better way to express my idea. My adoration for my mother has persisted, even to this day. My upbringing was led by my mother alone, and she exerted great effort in all aspects.
Typically, we chatted once a week, but she was the primary initiator of our conversations, primarily engaging in superficial exchanges. Despite this, I do not believe that I was a troublesome adolescent, as I did not indulge in drugs, alcohol, tattoos, or unconventional piercings. I would often disregard or respond in a straightforward manner with a negative reply of “no” when my mother requested a hug or assistance from me. Even though we shared a small one-room apartment, I had no interest in making any effort to do activities with her. Although
I now deeply regret my reluctance to engage in conversation with her, at the time I often found myself feeling uninterested in speaking extensively with her, a sentiment that persists to this day following her passing. To avoid interacting with her, I would feign slumber every time I heard her seek me out. There were rare instances where I expressed my affection with the words “I love you” towards her, but it never came from me first; it was always prompted as an instinctual reaction.
Both of my grandparents survived the 1918–1920 pandemic. They came out much stronger and learned a new way of living life before melting back into a normal state. They used to narrate to me lots of real episodes on the same and how they wish they had the chance to go back in those 2 dark years to correct a few things. But today we are talking about quantum mechanics (physics, computing, etc.), the 6G network, super AI, and machine consciousness. What else can I dream of for my kids?
Journey – Lessons and Could Have Done Better
1st Lesson to My 21-Year-Old Self: By my human nature, you don’t need to be only self-focused. Keep your exercise, eat well, share what you have rather than eating it all alone, and live a healthy life in balance. Schedule rest and recreation regularly.
The older you get, the more you’ll understand why. Love and respect your parents much more than you are doing it now. When your mother asks what time you will come back home, respond carefully and lovingly; don’t get frustrated. Even after I went on to get married and have children, I would still be living at home.
You know how much money I could have saved because of the nominal ‘rent’ that my parents would have charged? Not only that, do you know how much cut-eye and argument with my wife could have been avoided solely by my mother’s swift intervention? Other things that need attention, focus, and special care that I would tell my younger self.
Live for Others: In retrospect, I feel remorseful for not realizing sooner the great value of dedicating my existence to serving others. Merely directing one’s attention towards oneself is insufficient and does not lead to a state of satisfaction. The boundless fervor for existence transcends all boundaries. At the time, I did not comprehend the objective of reading books. I prioritized achieving my own goals over helping others, leading to minimal effort on my part in supporting others.
Little Wiser Use of Resources – I desire that I had the opportunity to allocate resources towards my avocation of photography and passion in physics. It’s common knowledge that physics has been instrumental in preventing us from being a millennium behind. The past would be inaccessible to our children if there were no cameras. I love my camera and little block of physics knowledge in my mind.
Social Media:If Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter were there, then I would have told myself that you should cut your time on social media and make personal contact with family and friends; rather than using Whatsapp to say good morning to your parents, go hug and kiss your mother (I wish she would have been alive today) and say good morning with lots of smiles and warm wishes.
Personal life : My personal life was just focused on my future, my studies, and finding a good job. You should spend some time with God, your parents, and your friends, caring for others and sharing what you have with others who do not even have what you have. (Even though at some points in my life I had only one room to call home and relied on public transport.)
Social responsibilities:You should stop expecting and asking for favors. You should start giving back in terms of small donations of anything and everything you have. Teach what you know and learn what you need to learn from anyone without shying away. You have become increasingly aware not only of what you buy but also of how the goods and services you buy have been produced. You should reject anything that has environmentally harmful production methods, uses child labor, involves dangerous working conditions, or involves other inhumane conditions.
Internet of the Thing:This was there like point-of-sale (POS) devices for credit card purchases, but not with the same name or mind set. I should have promoted these aspects for the betterment of society, as such technological breakthroughs offer improved health, day-to-day life, and community.
Mobile Financial Services:Make use of technology to pay your school fee, buy your books, and buy your bus or train tickets. Have a small savings club with friends to save and make use of pooled funds by supporting the person in need.
Online Schooling / Education system: This should have been there at that time, this would have saved significant cost and time for me and many others.
Funky gadgets:Use one of the best devices that is affordable to you, not your friends or their dad’s car or pocket size. The devices are endless, but at the end, the use is the same, which is “keep you off from people around you”. I wish Android existed then so I could have contributed so much as a youngster with lots of innovative ideas and fantasies without hesitation or worry of being laughed at or failing.
Confidence:Boost your self-assurance and stand out even more noticeably. Assuming a confident stance with a straight back resembling that of a young tree, you would have towered over those who had not yet reached the height of six feet. In my adolescent years, I had a tendency to slouch, contorting my backbone to align with my peers and avoid drawing attention to myself, except during basketball games. I am acquainted with several tall acquaintances who face a similar issue, and presently, it is crucial for us to actively focus on maintaining good posture. In modern times, there are those who enjoy wearing stilettos.
Travel the Globe :Getting away from everything you know and leaving your comfort zone will help you become more independent and force you to enjoy many new experiences. Many unexpected opportunities will present themselves outside your comfort zone. I could give you a hundred examples. Meeting unknown cultures and people is very important to broaden one’s horizons.
Mentor:I should have chosen a better and different mentor (it’s not that the mentor I chose at that time was bad or inferior). Having a person in your life who is older and wiser than you and who will guide you with your life goals is something very valuable. I had a mentor who asked me to do what I wanted to do, and it was too open and too free, so at that point in time, I can say I was like a headless chicken (I can only say this today).
Special funding for self or business plan allows us to appoint a new self personality with a specific business, idea, purpose, or target remit, and we renew our life membership for ourselves. With God’s help and health and wealth, we will work towards financial sustainability and broaden our portfolio of income generation so we can drive forward our unique and important work. Maybe that also says something about conformity and the fact that I should have been more willing to be original back then. Whatever the deep analysis shows, I sure am glad that I outgrew that particular habit.
I Wish I Can Speak to my 21-year-old Self
The 21st birthday holds significant importance in various countries, including America and India, as it marks the age when individuals are legally permitted to consume alcohol. Numerous youngsters these days enjoy hosting exuberant gatherings and spending the night reveling in the company of their peers. Undoubtedly, it would also be an exceptional birthday experience to enjoy with loved ones and commemorate in a grand manner. These 21st birthday wishes and quotes can assist your beloved, friend, or relative who is preparing for the future by urging them to contemplate their aspirations and goals.
If I were given the opportunity to revisit my 21-year-old self, I would strive to engage in unconventional activities that were possibly nonexistent during that time. Envisioning myself possessing my present wealth of knowledge, I anticipate having experienced a totally different existence in present times. Undoubtedly, living with my parents would have been my top priority until I turned 40 or until they decided to kick me out. I wondered where my hurried destination was and questioned its importance. Looking back, I regret not staying at home for an extended period if I had known better.
Man, she would have come in straight like a pin, and I wouldn’t have had to even break a sweat. When I review where I came from, I consider how I got here and wonder where I am going next. I realize how much more deeply I am trusting God—clinging to God—than I ever did as a younger man. In some ways, I “knew” so much more then. The world is becoming increasingly interconnected through mobile phones and the internet. Today, you can see how everyone else lives, both in their own countries and abroad. But while the aspirations of people around the world are converging, opportunities are not.
I spoke at the London School of Economics and Political Science about the need to accelerate development so people can lift themselves out of poverty. To use limited funds in the most effective way possible, we must fundamentally rethink our approach to development finance. Aspirations, linked to opportunity, can breed dynamism and inclusive, sustainable economic growth. That’s something we all want to see.
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Conclusions:So there you go. Some items on the list are particularly relevant to my 21-year-old self, and now is certainly not the time to be trying to take action on some of them. People tend to regret the things they didn’t do when they were young more than the things they did. However, let’s flip the script: instead of looking back with regret, why not look forward with determination?
Which one of your five things will you start doing tomorrow? With our maturity and changing faces, we enter a new era almost every 2-3 years.
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