doing things to make 25 year old me proud(i'm 23)
I used to strongly believe in making decisions and living a life that would make the little kid version of me proud. It's a thoroughly noble pursuit. To take the theoretically pure thoughts and dreams of a younger version of myself and to fervently defend that purity. To protect those thoughts and dreams from the adult world and all that can taint them.
In lieu of letting young Steve drive my decisions, I've been trying to imagine what a happy older version of me would want to have accomplished. Specifically, the 25 year old version of me. Why 25? For one, I think predicting anything further than 2 years in the future becomes quite difficult, especially in your 20s.
Contributing to this are two key factors, adult life, which brings with it a certain realness(rent, mortality, commitment to name a few) and the true ability to define your own life. I think the luckiest people in the world are the ones who have been able to define their life since they were young and the ones who are able to deter that "realness" for as long as they can.
I didn't consider myself lucky when I was younger, but I consider myself lucky now. As someone who didn't come from much, I was singularly focused on putting myself in a good financial position -- looking at the beaten path and finding the determination to be good at it. Now, with a year of full time work(and salary) under my belt, this is the strongest I've ever felt that I can define what I want my life to look like.
Curious about what would make 25 year old me proud?
- To be defined by my work(and it's impact) and not my potential.
- That I've been a good brother, son and friend to the people I care about.
- That I've documented my life in a way that reminds my older self of the feelings I had at 23.