Harsh Advice? Hard Realities!
It's been a while since I last checked my Quora account after joining steemit. So, yesterday I took a little walk to my Quora account and noticed that I have been tagged to answer a couple of questions. One question in particular caught my attention, it was asked by some teen who is trying to put things in the right track as he/she is growing up. I'm sure you may wonder what the question was, so here it is :
What 7 harsh advices do you have for me that would make me a more mature person?
I was pretty much surprised at the question and I wonder why Quora would request that I answer the question because I myself I'm still putting my life together and they say "you should first remove the rheum from your eyes before attempting to do so to someone else".
Harsh Advice? I don't know how to do that because to me no advice is ever harsh, and I believe there is no formula for success in life. But well, our Quora friend didn't asked for advice on how to be successful but rather to be a more mature person. So, from my experience in life, i will share this seven lines with you all.
- Disclaimer: these words are not formulas that guarantee results and should not be followed like a physician's prescription. What works for Tom might not work for John. You should only mold them to create your own personal approach.
Life is fair because it is unfair to everyone, so suck it up. - You see, a lot of things are going to go wrong in your life as you grow up. Someone once said that the universe naturally tend towards disorder which tends to tear apart everything you will build for yourself - family, community, finance, country, relationship. When this happens, know that it happens to everyone too. Some people might be born with a silver spoon but do you know if they have a plastic kidney or a rubber liver? So, suck it up the world wants results not excuses.
People don't really give a fuck about you as much as you think. Yes, you read that right. You are young, probably have lots of friends and followers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram who rushes in minutes to like your posts and comments on them, don't let this popularity and show of care get to your head. People have their own lives to live, their own problems to solve, their own issues to address. They don't think much about you and you would be surprised that when in difficult situations only a few (if any) might offer some help. When this happens, don't cry, remember what I said above. Your strength lies mostly in what you can do for yourself, not anyone else.
Fate and luck will come, don't believe much in a workless wealth. There's a post by @tarazkp some weeks back about the dangers of believing in a workless wealth. This might go against the popular theory of the coming age of abundance offers by cryptocurrencies. We have heard so much news of young people who bought a couple of bitcoin in 2009, did nothing, sold them in 2017 and travel the world with the million dollar ROI. This might be true but what percentage of the world can that support. If everyone was to get rich doing nothing, life would be shit cause no one would build the Ferrari you wanna buy or fly your private jet. If the lady of luck shines her light in your direction, fine, but this should never be your action plan. For most luck to come, the person must put himself in the right position to grab the opportunity. We should hold some hope of a better life but remember that hope is not an action plan.
Safe Pity and your Rights: I'll be pretty straight with you on this one. I have seen a lot in life that I do not believe in rights. A handful of mights is ten times better than a truck full of rights. The only right you have in this life is that which you have the might to fight for and protect. As you grow up, you will happen to meet lots of people fighting for human rights, that's ok, we need something to look up to but don't sit back and be blinded by that illusion. So what? You have the fundamental human right to life, tell that to a bullet that is fired at you.
I am not saying that we do not have our rights, we do and I respect that, but what I am trying to say here is that you must be ready to fight for what you want. Life is not given, it is taken. Your might can be in the form of money, manpower, willpower, network and connections, physical strength, knowledge or even firepower. Whatever it is, you will need it in life to fight off the wolves, sharks and bullies.
How old are you now? You still believe you are too young to start serious plans about your finances? You are wrong. This is the age of fast cars, fast food, fast girls 😉, fast everything. Start now to put your finances in order. One sign of maturity is your ability to not let the bankers give you a room and take away your house or loan you a tire for 3 days and take away your car after 2 weeks. They are not that bad anyway, but you get the message.
With maturity comes tolerance, if you belongs to a group or religion or school of thought that believe your belief is the only way and those on the other side of the town should be blown to pieces, I think it's time you get a spaceship and fly to the moon ( not to Mars dear, Elon Musk is already planning on bringing people over there). Seriously, life should not be a one way track. In fact, that's what makes living fun else we would all be bored to death long ago. Also, if you are the type that believe your decision is final and you wouldn't change them for anything even when you are proven wrong. That's what the politicians do, it's toxic - to you and to the society. Be ready to listen to others argument and compare with yours and if you have made a wrong assumption earlier because you were not well informed, apologize if need be and go ahead to change your assumptions, it doesn't make you a lesser or weak person.
The walls of babylon will not protect you. This is the last part I want to talk to you about and it is very important you get me right. I mentioned that your rights in life is measured by the might to protect them. If you are depending only on government agencies and corporations for your security, then you will soon be disappointed. Security has always been a very serious issue of concern both in physical, in finance and in the digital world. Currencies are losing values, terrorism and crime is on the rise, hacking and ransomware is a serious threat everywhere. All these are security issues and you have a role to play in securing your life and what is of importance to you. The walls of babylon alone will not protect you, build yours.
TL:DR
The world wasn't created to suit you or anyone else.
The world demand results not excuses.
You are responsible for your life, no one else.
So friends, this is my saturday afternoon rambling, I hope you found some meanings in them. If were asked the same question, what would be top on your list?
All images are public domain from Pixabay
Man I was just rocked by this. In a good way of course. You made so many great and real points about how life works. Life is unfair period and no one deserves anything. You have to keep fighting. This was one of my favorite posts of the week.
I'm glad to see you on my blog. I have been reading a lot from you and I'm greatly inspired. I read today about the extreme efforts you put into Steemit gem you joined the community and today everyone can see the results. But many others I know, came here and hope for some workless reward, when it didn't come, they ran away. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
You said right... We are all accountable to ourselves. And we are responsible for what we hear, just like are responsible for what we said...