The beauty and pain about and in life is Uncertainty. Many people have said that they'd never wish to return to their twenties because although it's a time for experimentation and freedom, it was also the time in their lives where they struggled with finding their identity or creating or placing themselves into a niche. Your twenties (I'm guessing) is where you start to have the first real interaction with the cold, and sometimes cruel world. Yes, there are pluses too such as living in your own apartment, having a job and a car and getting to call your own shots, but at the same time, it's the first real taste you have of what it means to be leaving behind the comfort and security of sheltered routine. Sometimes even a university degree does to a certain extent place boundaries and limitations on your decisions, because you may have deadlines and tests to study for. However once you enter the world of the formal/ semi-formal workplace, you're thrown into a pool of people 20-30 years your senior, and quickly need to reach out for that buoy. On the other hand, being a 20-something-year-old is also a golden phase which is the epitome of the word "fleeting". You are the rookie, the underdog, but you carry with you the swagger of a 1920's film star and the s(ass) of a Guess Jeans model. At times, it feels like not even Life can stand in your way, and that everything in that moment culminates and sways to play out your classic Hollywood movie scene. Sometimes it succeeds, sometimes it backfires and is therefore aptly described as how Maggie Smith coined it ; "Sheer, dumb luck!". But, as much as that may be true, that cheeky (and often rickety) boost is possibly a foot in the door...to our dreams. I am by no stretch of the imagination trying to suggest that I have the twenties figured out, in fact, I think the most quintessential thing about our twenties is the fact that we think we have it all figured out (Yes, I see the irony here...). What I do however think and have realized is the fact that this is the stage in our lives which we should embrace and fully explore. Towards the end of this surreal phase, we have narrowed down the search and paths to be taken--as life will inevitably force us to do, and so it is of utmost importance to ensure that what we are left with is a range of choices and characteristics which will enable us to be the best versions of ourselves that we can be, and to fully utilize all of the knowledge and skills to propel us into our unimaginable success. I have started watching a series called Suits (Season 1), of which follows a New York attorney and his associate who is a secretly-illegitimate Harvard-graduate. This associate, Mike, is in his mid-twenties, and after wishing for a life in which he would go to bed every night exhausted from giving his all every day- mentally, physically, in the work-place and in other areas of his life, Harvey Specter takes a gamble on him, hires his protégé and the story unfolds. We watch as both Mike and Harvey face every-day battles with clients, colleagues, the law and how they are both challenged in their respective ranks. The most inspiring part of Suits is the fact that whenever Mike thinks that he has reached the end of a task, or that the case is at a dead end, his mentor pushes him even further and even more so, tests the limits of his potential to step up to the plate. Sleep is unheard of as Mike and his fellow junior associates must work round the clock and combine knowledge with creative thinking to work alongside the justice system. I, myself am no law guru, but what must be noted is that the principle drawn from Suits can be applied to any young adult with a fist-full of potential. The most important thing we can do at this stage in our lives is not to waste a single day. Learn more, read more, ask questions, sign yourself up for things, volunteer, go out of your way to absolutely master something. Have a plan; as simple and as basic as it may be, a few pointers are better than being a wanderer.
2 Comments
Berdene
3/28/2015 07:27:04 am
"Catchy" title ;) Perhaps Helshoogte is a great vantage point, provides an aerial perspective on life too? Such insight and clarity of a phase that most of us only remember as a blur, never mind make sense of. I agree...have a plan yes, but also enjoy the luxury of being bored and doing absolutely nothing some days. Free time is hard to come by in your thirties. xxx
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Berdene
3/28/2015 07:45:21 am
Call it boredom/reflection/being still/time out...making sense of all. xx
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AuthorHi there, my name is Judete Fourie. I am a twenty-something-year-old writer living in Stellenbosch in SA's Western Cape. Follow my day to day adventures that involve wine, wit and braaibroodjies. Archives
June 2017
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