Many things have been done that people have come to regret later in life. The bulk of these things were done while they were in their 20s and lacked the simple concept of taking on responsibilities. They also wish they could turn back the hands of time and do things differently, or at least better. Time and tide, though, do not wait for anyone. So, now that it has happened, the only option, if there is one, is to either find a way to undo the aftermath of their decisions or live with the consequences for the rest of their lives. As a consequence, I've assembled a list of 21 mistakes you can stop right there if you're in your twenties in order to start living the good life…
21. Failure to look after yourself
Everyone knows that health is wealth. Your wellbeing must take precedence. Most people in their twenties, on the other hand, neglect their wellbeing and concentrate on eating whatever they want, believing they are living life to the fullest. They go to the bar, smoke, drink excessively, and prefer hanging out. They consume foods that are high in fat, sugars, and protein. They are unconcerned about the effects of continuing to exercise in order to stay fit and burn excess fat and sugar. Hypertension, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and other health problems are often the result of these factors. And who says these diseases can't impact you in your thirties?
20. Making the wrong friends
Some twenties assume that everyone can be their mate. One thing we must remember is that our friends are among the people at the very top of the influence ladder. They have an impact on us in ways we never imagined and have an impact on the choices we make. If one gets interested in the wrong company, his friends are likely to influence him. This has a life-altering impact and will remain on his record for the rest of his life. In their 20s, some people become hardened criminals, drug addicts, alcoholics, smokers, and so on. They may think they can improve when the time is right, but they may not be able to control the consequences of their decisions.
I used to have a friend, he was a high achiever, he had big things going for him, All ‘A grades’, he was a top student, but at some point he got involved with the wrong crowd, made the wrong friends, they did drugs, so did he, they went to crime, and so did he, and that ruined his life. Jim Rohn said “You are the average of the 5 people that you hang around with”. So remember choose your friends wisely.
19. Rushing to get married
Don't get us wrong: We think it's fantastic! Everyone wishes to marry and is on the lookout for a suitable life partner. When you're in your 20s, you might think that if you don't get married right away, people will abandon you. And, seemingly out of nowhere, a promising young man or woman with your basic qualities appears and begins talking about marriage. Nothing else matters at the moment, and you aren't ready to consider the possibility that your career will end after you marry. Then you get married, only to discover that it was one of the most costly decisions you've ever made. Don’t rush, play it steady.
18. Families being overlooked
Just your family will be there for you when everyone else has left. They've been your closest friends since you were born, and they'll always be there for you, no matter what. They can be irritating at times, especially if they start prying into your personal affairs and impose restrictions on your liberty. They were, however, well-intentioned. In your twenties, you're busy with school events, attempting to concentrate on love, keeping a social life, and so on. Your goals should not be set without considering your family, but it seems that people in their twenties devote more time and energy to other aspects of their lives while neglecting their families. Here’s what we learnt - People in their forties and fifties when asked about one of their biggest regrets: many told us it was not spending enough time with their families and loved ones when in their twenties. Spend those precious moments with your family. You will appreciate this advice.
17. Impulsive buying
The word "impulsive buying" refers to the act of purchasing something you see. You may feel like the best thing to do in your 20s is to spend every penny that comes into your hand because you have few or no financial obligations. You want to buy the most up-to-date items, have the most up-to-date smart phones or gadgets, go to clubs, eat out, and have a good time. It does not occur to you that saving is a must and can be extremely beneficial in the most bothersome times of your life. It is highly recommended that you should start saving and investing in your twenties. What's more, guess what? When you're in your thirties, you'll look back and be thankful. The book ‘The Richest Man In Babylon by George Clason’ is a great read about saving money and accumulating wealth in your 20s.
16. Doing a job you despise
It is sometimes unavoidable to work in a position that is a carbon copy of your ideal job. With the current state of the economy everywhere, finding a dream career can be daunting at times. When you get your first job, which you may or may not like, you may be afraid of not being able to discover another. As a result, you get trapped and continue to do a job that stresses you out, drains your energy, or prevents you from enjoying other facets of your life. Don't stay in a position you despise because you fear you won't be able to find something better. The faster you make the correct decision, the better because you do not have the same freedom to seek better opportunities in your 30s or 40s or 50s and so on.
15. Burning bridges
It is not a good idea to burn all of your bridges. Some individuals in their twenties leave their former lives and move on as soon as they receive a better offer in life. Some people abandon their friends, families, and those who stood by them when times were tough. It's likely that they obtained a better job offer and hopped into the moving train, saying goodbye to their former position without having to quit professionally. You can send them a few days, weeks, or months' notices so that they can find a replacement. Often, since you can't see into the future, you could run into these people again when you're in a tight spot. So, what are your options? Don’t burn bridges.
14. Believing that talent and education are sufficient for success
High intellect, natural talent, and degrees from prestigious universities are all desirable qualities, but they don't guarantee that you'll land a great job — and they're worthless if they're not accompanied by hard work. Acting with others and how you portray yourself can be much more critical in advancing your career. Whatever you do, having social skills, soft skills, understanding who to ask for what, and seeing the big picture are all useful assets.
13. Associating pleasure with wealth
Although prestige and a big paycheck can make you happy, there's a lot more to success than that. If you prioritize a paycheck over your passion, you're setting yourself up for a long time of regret.
12. Giving up when things get Tough
When it happens for the first time, ending a serious relationship, being fired from a job, and making your startup fail can all seem life-changing. Instead of giving up or setting a lower goal for the next time, you should consider setbacks as opportunities to improve you and develop you. Remember every hardship can be a blessing hidden in disguise. Remember to look for the blessing and the lesson learnt.
11. Putting off things
There's a theory that says if you're 30 years old, you'll be extremely successful and have it all figured out. It's all too easy to put off your most cherished ambitions, assuming that you'll have time for them eventually. However, you can reach an age when it is too late to change occupations, attend graduate school, or start a family. Our advice is to create a ‘Life list’ with all your goals and set action steps for what you will do to achieve those, and tick them off your ‘life list’. Remember Arya Stark had a list too, and she ticked names off her list too. Now we don’t suggest you have a ‘kill list’ like Arya Stark did in Game of Thrones, but having a ‘life list’ helps you keep you keep focused on the goals you want in life.
10. Making an attempt to satisfy everybody
It is instinctive to want to get along with your boss, customers, and almost all of your colleagues when you're first starting out in your career. Embrace it, and don't get upset when you know some of them really don't like you. You will always find someone in your office, family, or school who dislikes you. So, don't get stressed and don't try to please everyone. This way, things will work well for you.
9. Believing that all friendships will last forever
Do you think your college friends will be your lifelong friends? Some will always be there at 40, but the majority will be busying in their lives doing what they do. When your mates are really not altogether in the same town or in the same school, you will know which ones are perhaps the most important to you and which ones are worth the time of keeping in touch with.
8. They're on the lookout for their soul mate
Some people want to spend the majority of their twenties single and emotionally detached. Others are on the lookout for the right partner. The latter category is prone to fantasizing about meeting someone with whom everything just works, and the relationship is uncomplicated. However, in fact, the most successful long-term relationships necessitate effort and commitment. Here's some helpful advice: You must constantly make compromises, changes, embrace and justify your failures, but know what? This is what makes it interesting!
7. Believing that relocating to a new place would fix their problems
Traveling and living in a new place can both be culturally enriching experiences, and your twenties are the ideal time to do both. But, heading to the opposite coast does not guarantee that you can immediately find sense and purpose.
6. Seeing things in black and white
Many people in their twenties are fixated on absolutes. For example, some people believe they must choose between a future career that benefits them and one that benefits others, despite the fact that self-interest does not have to be synonymous with doing good for the community.
5. Planning years ahead of time
One of the major mistakes that you probably made in your twenties was that you tried hard to plan years in advance. We know that it is good to plan and sort things out, but long-term planning may result in failure. It isn't easy to guess where you will end up and what you will do. So, instead of obsessing over five-year plans, concentrate on achievable and doable short-term objectives.
4. They assume they are the only one of their mates who is having difficulties
It may seem that your peers or colleagues are more competitive and optimistic as you navigate the world, assessing who you are as an adult and pursuing a career. However, regardless of income, jobs, or living conditions, every 20-something is still finding things out as they go.
3. Adhering to bad advice
Bad advice will sneak up on you. You may want to check it out to see if it really works. When it doesn't, you feel compelled to give it another shot just to be sure. That's how bad advice will devastate your career and personal relationships. It's likely that your mentors and friends were providing you with bad advice. You thought it was wrong the second it crossed their lips. It would be best if you had not listened to them in the first place. Instead, you continued to act as though they were fully aware of their actions. You continued to give them money for further advice, despite the fact that it had failed to help them. It failed each and every time.
2. Believing you must be the best at one thing
There could always be someone better than you, no matter how good you are at something. Choose one thing, and you'll find 100 more talented people who have been doing it professionally for a long time. Right now, you need to be exceptional at four to five things, figure out where your strengths overlap and then create a business around them. You can build your own personal brand and have something completely special that only a few people in the world can match. We need to master a few before coming up with something completely different because creativity is the new secret to success.
1. Accusing others of being responsible for your plight
Our present situation is not the fault of our parents. Accepting responsibility for being the authors of our own lives and beginning to write a story that we want to read is important. Stop blaming others for your issues and start taking responsibility for your choices; the more you know that you are solely responsible for your actions, the sooner you will get behind the wheel and drive. Here is a quote here at MM we love: “You are the captain of your ship, and the master of your fate”.
Bonus One!
Thinking that money is the answer to all life’s problems
Many people in their 20s think money is the answer to life’s problems. But it’s not. I’ll share with you a story of someone I knew once who thought this, he was a greedy person, and also a lonely person. He thought money would solve his loneliness; and so he hustled hard, and had a successful breakthrough with his business. It made him millions. He got married, even had a few kids, yet he still felt lonely. He had millions, but he felt it wasn’t enough, he felt he needed more money to solve his loneliness. So he hustled more, several more businesses, long days, long nights, it cost him his wife, a divorce, he lost his kids, but he made his money into a Billion. He had so much more money. Yet he still felt lonely. He now feels that if he makes more billions his life problem will be solved.
The truth is, it won’t. Money is an amplifier, like a magnifying glass it only amplifies your true self. This man was greedy and lonely and money only made him greedier and lonelier. It amplified him. What this person should have done was solved the loneliness part first and the greed first by finding happiness in the little things in life. Only when he found happiness, should he have sought the secondary goal of making money. Only then would he have been happy.
Comment below about your thoughts on this!
What shall I write about next?
Setting up your own business is quite difficult and, most of the time, quite expensive as they require lots of capital. What if we tell you that you can offer your services and become your own boss without getting out of your home? That's right! You can build your own working hours according to your personal timetable. If you want to know about some of the ways, then make sure to read until the end.
Stay tuned until the end of this video for a BONUS way, and how you can get a free company share worth up to £100. ( Disclaimer contains affiliate links)
10. Reviews and surveys:
The software developers and service providers develop new things for the ease of people. Initially, the amount of accuracy in the service provided is not as the final product is expected. But how they come to know about the defects in these goods or services? Who knows what improvements are required? Well, that’s the point where we all come in who want to make some extra side money other than the 9-5 jobs.
After the development, people are hired to test the service they are providing, check out the features and give these developers feedback. Sometimes they are required to fill out a questionnaire. In software, the same strategy is used that gives them an overview of improvements needed in their software or services. In the end, freelancers are paid according to the task they perform.
9. Translations:
If you were good in your school studies and during your language class, this gig is for you. Becoming a translator brings great opportunities for you as big companies need good translators for their companies when visiting other countries. If you are fairly able to understand and translate any two languages, then congratulations! You can earn big.
Many companies are looking for energetic young minds ready to pay you for your talent. Just need to show proof of your abilities by showing degree or experience of translations. There is a strict requirement that you need to be fluent in both languages before applying for this job as you cannot use the translation tool; you just have one tool to use. That's your mind! Fiverr is a great place where you can do this, and offer this service in exchange for money. Sign up below today and start at your journey from home, link is in the description below.
8. App development:
Got a knack for coding? Among the success stories related to IT, there are people with IT skills like app developers who make money by creating small yet powerful applications that keep generating money for them every time someone downloads it and uses the application. But for those who are not developers and looking for ideas to make money by applications, well, there is an optimal solution to this problem even if you don't have any knowledge of programming.
People online are ready to make applications for us without development skills, who charge cheaply and apply your desired requirements. Once your application is ready to use, many platforms can help publish your application around the world. For attracting customers, you can add different attractions such as basic and premium versions with different capabilities.
7. Virtual Assistant:
A Virtual Assistance is any remote assistant that offers administrative or technical support services for online business owners. Is there something that you can do remotely for small business owners? As a virtual assistance, this is what you will be doing. There are literally hundreds of services that you can offer as a virtual assistant. The most common ones are, returning Email and posting on social media, Blogging, Invoicing, calendar management, research, and appointment setting.
So, what services do you think you could possibly offer as a Virtual Assistant? When you start working as a Virtual Assistant, you will be working like a boss. You can set your hours without any limitations. You can set your own rate for your Virtual Assistant services.
6. Social media management:
Social media management is one of the best ways to generate an income from home. What is social media management? Well; Social Media management means creating content to post on Facebook, posting something on Twitter or YouTube. This is what we are thought until now. But Social media marketing is not limited to this.
If your customer wants to ask you this question and cannot come to your store, he can use social media. He can ask you questions on Facebook and can tweet you on Twitter as well. Social Media is the modern way for brand Awareness, and businesses will pay you to help them.
5. Affiliate marketing:
What is Affiliate Marketing? Affiliate marketing is essentially the monetization of the word of mouth marketing. It's a marketer getting a commission in exchange for referring a product or service to another customer. How has affiliate marketing changed? The number of channels has evolved everything from social to Email.
We have seen people, very novice beginners, give it a go and start sending emails out, and today, people are building entire audiences around specific industries. They have become experts around those particular niche markets. We're seeing influencers evolve that are recommending products and services that are not their own. Still, they have other companies, but people go to them to get that information.
What are the benefits of Affiliate Marketing? Affiliate marketing is one of the most efficient forms of advertising because you're only paying out and only giving that affiliate marketer commission when a sale has already been made. It's fantastic for them from the affiliate perspective because they may not be capable of building a product or offering services. Still, they are good at building audiences and selling other people's products.
4. Online courses:
This need for information, instruction has created a great opportunity for you to get paid for your knowledge. People have done this by starting a blog or writing books; an online course is another method of selling what you know. One of the best ways to earn money remotely is to create online courses. Now, this does take an upfront investment of time. As with any other passive income-generating activity, you do the work once and get paid repeatedly for it.
Many people think they don't know enough about a subject to teach it, but the truth is, you don't need to be a specialist in designing and selling an online course. You simply need to know enough things to teach it. The topics you can teach are vast, including technology, art or photography, language, and more.
3. Trade crypto currency:
Things from the past are evolving. So is our payment method due to the introduction of virtual currency, that is, crypto currency! The unknown thing is now the reason for many peoples' existence. People used to buy and sell things, and all their transactions were done with paper money. With the passage of time and the introduction of crypto currency, people are moving towards the money that they cannot keep in their pockets. A (Management consulting company) Gallop poll performed research and found that in 2016, 10% of people use cash as their preferred payment method
For some of us, crypto currency is still a relatively new payment method, which is likely to become the standard. Bit coin might be the primary crypto currency platform today, but the US Dollar will soon become the Digital Dollar. People take advantage of the ups and downs of the crypto currency. These ups and downs depend on the rate of the dollar. Also, some online applications can help to trade your assets.
2. Blogging:
Another effective way to earn a handsome amount of money is blogging. But unlike other businesses, it's a passive income. It needs extensive research and a good amount of knowledge. No investment is needed other than your time because it takes time for the blog to earn for you. Blogging is a passive type of income as you need to write content, and people will visit your link. People worldwide are blogging, and the best thing about it is that you don't have to leave the comfort of your home.
With this come extra advantages like once your link gets powerful, people offer to write for you, and the advertisers try to link up their products with your website. But the story does not end. You can start affiliate marketing. You just offer different products from different manufacturers and get the percentage as they are sold. Talking about content creating, we cannot forget about YouTube.
1. Starting a YouTube channel:
YouTube is a great platform for both enjoyment and earning points of view. There are hundreds of success stories around the world. This platform is a turning point for many people includes some of the billionaires with a massive amount of money and fame. Your channel can contain any type of content, including games, funny videos, technological tutorials, prank videos, or any kind of content you can think of, depending on what kind of audience you want to engage.
As everything needs some type of investment in one way or another, YouTube involves a great amount of time and effort as you have to put multiple hours in it… but after watching the fruit of your hard work, the time that is put to it is worth it. Well, of course, you can outsource many things needed to run a channel. Once you reach 1000 subscribers, you become eligible for being monetization, and that's the start of a successful journey.
Bonus Part: Stocks & Shares
The average annual return on the stock market is 10%, which is higher than that of a bank account or bonds. So, after investing in the stock market, why do so many people struggle to gain 10%? Many people do not invest for long enough. The best way to make money in stocks is to stay in the market; your total performance is best predicted by your "time in the market." Unfortunately, investors frequently enter and exit the stock market too early or too late, thereby missing out on the best returns.
We will recommend you to stay in the market and wait for the right opportunity. Let's see the example of those who invested in Tesla. A person who invested $100 in Tesla in March 2020 would have earned over 600% on their investment. Yes, this is a big return on investment, but it is true! That’s $600 from your $100 from last March alone. Take another example of TechTarget. If you had invested in TechTarget during June 2020, you would have earned around 200% on your investment. That’s double your money. Better than putting your money in the bank. That is what Stock and Share Markets offer you.
Do you want to get a free stock share worth up to £100? If you are a beginner in the stock and shares market, you can sign up to trading 212 with the link in the description, and you will get a free stock up to £100. Create a Trading 212 Invest account using this link, for your free share!
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The end of winter as we see it is the start of the most cheerful season of the year. For all of us, it’s the start of the new season but for Persians, the joy becomes double as the New Year joins with it. Yes, the New-year! Unlike other countries that celebrate the New-year at the start of January, Persians celebrate it with the start of the spring season. Come on board with MM news when we dive into the top 10 weirdest facts about Persian New-year.
Read until the end where there will be a BONUS fact.1. Happens exactly on Vernal Equinox:
With the farewell of winter, the new season of spring brings new joys with it. Persian calls this arrival of freshness in the shape of New-year on the exact moment of Vernal Equinox.
Are you wondering what is Vernal Equinox? The vernal equinox is the name of two periods during the year when the Sun is close to the Equator and day and night are of similar duration; it is also one of two points in the sky where even the ecliptic (the Sun's annual path) and the celestial equator meet.
Like the Chinese New-year, Persian New-year is also an occasion that isn’t celebrated on one date. This year it will be celebrated on 21st March 2021. It is celebrated at the end of winter and the start of the spring season.
2. Persian New-year or Nowruz a religious fact?
Unlike other countries, its dates vary as it was celebrated on 20 March of last year. Now this year Nowruz will be celebrated on 21 March 2021. This event has nothing to do with religion. The determination of the date of Nowruz is based on the astronomical celestial events. This ritual is as old as 3000 years and was started from the traditions of Zoroastrians before Islam’s advent in the 7th century A.D.
3. Nowruz and the seven Ss:
A major feature of NowRuz is the preparation of “Haft-Seen,” (seven “S’s”); a special display of seven specific offerings each beginning with the letter “S” in Farsi. Typically, the “Haft-Seen” includes the following: “seeb” or apple (to promote beauty and good health), “seer” or garlic (to ward off bad omen), “samanou” (a sweet pudding, symbolizing affluence), “sabze” or wheat-germ (representing rebirth) grown in a flat dish a few days before the New Year, “sek-keh” or coin, preferably gold (for wealth and abundance), “senjed” (dried fruit from lotus tree, symbolizing love), and “somagh” or sumac (color of sunrise). There will also be a mirror (symbol for the sky), a goldfish in a bowl (a symbol of life force), lit candles symbolizing fire and promoting enlightenment, colored eggs (symbol of fertility corresponding to the mother earth), sweets to spread sweetness and a book of poems by Hafiz or Rumi.
4. Goldfishes a sign of perpetual life:
For many years the goldfish are caught present at the dinner table. To the Iranians, goldfish is a symbol of perpetual life. They gather seven things comprising of the word “seen” or “S” a letter of Persian language. But due to the increasing rate of catching of goldfish every year and animal rights activism, this chain has become less common. And by the end of this festival they were required to free up all the fishes into the rivers and ponds.
5. Iranians aren't the only ones who rejoice.
Iran is one of ten countries that observe this holiday. It is a national holiday in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Albania, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. An unofficial holiday is also observed in a few other countries to celebrate Nowruz.
6. It’s like several western holidays wrapped into one:
It’s not just Iran that celebrates the holiday but Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iraq Kurdistan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan also celebrate it with Iran. It’s a day of joy which is expressed as a holiday in the above-mentioned countries. Also, the UN General Assembly Proclaimed on 21st March 2010, the International Nowruz Day for Iran.
7. Bonfire and other pre-Nowruz traditions and festivities:
The Nowruz ritual starts with a bonfire night, which is also called Chahar-Shanbeh-Suri, which also means the eve of the Red Wednesday is the introduction to Nowruz. Here jumping on fire, singing and ritualistic phrases are done.
The home is also cleaned to welcome the Nowruz. This event is also very cheerful as people sing and dance proclaiming their joy. These families pay a visit to the elder members of their families. It is a symbol of respect.
8. Traditional New-year meal:
Nowruz’s list of the meal is quite long. Which include mainly Sabze or wheatgrass which symbolizes the new start of prosperity growth and rebirth of the traditions. Similarly, garlic or Sir also represents good health. There is also other food like sabzi polo, reshteh polo, kuku sabzi which is made of vegetable and is a vegetarian dish with a light and salty taste. Eid Deedani is the general period to visit loved ones – both family and friends. And with that sweets and confectionaries are a must thing.
9. Fire jumping:
This dangerous act is a part of the Persian New-year festival. A small bonfire is lit around which everyone gathers around. According to Persians, the fire is of great significance. This began on the last Wednesday of winter with the evening of Chahar- Shanbeh-Suri when people make the bonfire and jump over it as the sun sets. It is a family tradition which means to make the darkness go away and inviting the light to come for the upcoming year. Also, it it’s believed to fade away the negativity by chanting:” Offer me your lovely red hue and take away my sickly pallor.”
10. Minstrels, Troubadours, and Mischief-making
There is another tradition known as Haji Firuz. This tradition Is celebrated by wearing bright red dresses and dancing around on the street. It’s almost like Halloween because people dress like in disguise and go from door to door raising raucous, loud noises, chanting. This spreads joy and cheer among each other.
Bonus Fact - Prevent bad luck by going out on the 13th day
On the exact 13th day all leave their houses and go to the mountains and parks enjoying the clean and pure environment to rejoice with family and friends. They like to enjoy greenery all over the place. This is also a symbol of leaving the bad luck of the past year behind and moving on to the new beginning where some of the couples are engaged. The reason for proposing their vows in this place is to create a green future for them.
The sabzee table sprout which absorbs the negative energy and is thrown into the flowing water. By doing this they expect to find their soul mate in this year ahead.
Comment below what intrigued you the most about Persian New year?
References
https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/uk-now/read-uk/nowruz
http://persianfoodtours.com/nowruz-persian-new-year/
https://acei-global.blog/2014/03/20/8-things-to-know-about-nowruz-persian-new-year-celebrations/
https://en.mehrnews.com/news/156855/Interesting-facts-about-Persian-New-Year-Nowruz
This post is about missions, why we have them; how we find them and how you can accomplish them too.
Can you look back to your earliest moments, your first memory of a mission? Your eyes locked so hard you would win at every staring contest, your mind re-purposed for success you would run 20 miles a day, every day like Rocky Balboa from the Rocky Movie franchise, pushing your very human limits to the tip of your breaking point, and then you would go that extra bit further, just that extra bit further. Why? Because you have a goal, and you know this is what you must do to accomplish your goal. Then when your hands begin to bleed, your body starts to shut down, what do your emotions do... they go ballistic, you are at your breaking point and the voices in your head are telling you to stop, to give up. To quit. Those 5 letters. To quit. What do you do? You ask your self ‘What would Rocky do?’ Hell, he’ll tell to F*ck your emotions, tell them ‘NOOOOO’. And remind yourself why you are here, and your purpose for your mission at it’s core. For Rocky it was to be the best. Now imagine that time, your first time when you had your mission? what did it look like, how old were you? Like most young little bundles of joy, your mission might have gone a little like THIS…
Neville: Mum Mom, I’m going to be a caterpillar when i’m older… so with your new found mission, you convince dad to buy you all the books from the ‘hungry caterpillar’ series, and you pledge to read all of them. You study in depth the caterpillars and you learn how caterpillars eat leaves, and go through cycles of growth where they eventually cocoon in on themselves and grow to become beautiful and colourful butterflies. This inspires you. And now that you have read all the books, you step up your mission and begin now the field work. You visit gardener Ned’s beautiful flower field and study the caterpillars in their natural habitat, you watch how they eat leaves, you watch how they cocoon, and you watch as the cocoons break, and out comes the beautiful butterfly, you ask gardener Ned all the important questions, like which one of these leaves should I eat to become a red and yellow butterfly? You eat the leaves, and even-though they taste like ‘blughhhh’ you persist, you persevere and remind yourself of grandma Nyla’s advice: ‘all great things are built upon struggle and struggle and struggle’. This is your mantra as you eat these icky, yucky, nicki, leaves. Because WHY? why all it is you want is to become a caterpillar. This is because you are inspired at how beautiful they become and that they fly, and you believe that once you can fly you can see the whole world. You want your freedom, your independence. Missions often become re-purposed and change, and this is the earliest times you experience such changes. You realise that after all that ground rolling, leaf eating, newspaper wrapping around your body to create a cocoon, you can’t become a caterpillar…
Comment below, if you or anyone you know has ever wanted to become a caterpillar?
Mine was a little different… I actually wanted to become a tree, because you see when you are 3 years old, you are pretty short right? And when your parents put the chocolates on top of the fridge or on a table where you can’t reach, it sucks right? So what do I do, I commit to becoming a big tall tree… And how did I do that? I found out trees need water, and I joined the likes of trees and started drinking more water. I drank all the brands, the Evian, the Buxton, and even the tap water. But you see, flustered, annoyed and needing to pee, it wasn’t working, and I wasn’t growing fast enough. It finally hit me, you see trees they don’t drink bottled water, how silly of me for not realising. Trees drink rainwater. EUREKA, that was when I stumbled on the gold mine. I went full commando and sought out all of mum’s saucepans and buckets and pots and spread them out in the garden and started collecting rainwater. Then THIS happened… I drank this water and went to my parents with butterflies in my eyes, annoyed, upset and disgruntled at the rain. I learned a lesson here that growth takes time and people do not grow as trees do.
My next mission grew from a pre-historic obsession with dinosaurs between 4-6 years of age, and this is one hell of a story. Believe me, you are one of the lucky ones who I didn’t imprint as a stegosaurus, or pterodactyl, or in other words FOOD, and... guess who, I identified as a tyrannosaurus Rex. Comment below if I should interview some of the casualties who I ended up treating as Dinosaur food.
The mission thereafter, as I grew, it grew with me, and it took a turn when I was 6 and visited Dr Farhad, my dad’s friend who owns a farm and private jungle. For the first time in life, imagine you experience life with all the animals from the nursery rhyme ‘Old McDonald had a farm… yeeya yeeya ho’, the chickens, the cows, the ducks, the sheep, and the dog. My hope and heart were to become a zookeeper, and my life became forever changed and took the direction to the place I am today. You see, being with these animals, especially the dog Sammy, who was a young black Doberman, made me feel care and love for these animals. I felt a connection with them, especially Sammy. Let me tell you a story... I was lost that day alone, and cold while playing with Sammy, in the scary and silent formidable forest. You see, I hadn’t realised we had run too far out and imagined you are in a forest, every look you take looks the same, trees, treeees, treeeeeees, like a tall cage, and you a small lamb, trapped, and without a guide, you don’t know how to find your way. But Sammy knew, Sammy could feel, Sammy felt how I felt and gestured to me ‘mhmmmhmmhm’ and led me through the forest back to the farm. I grew a power within me, and this power was care, and this feeling of care only strengthened when I went back home to London. At first my feeling of care guided me to a mission to become a zookeeper, and I would visit the animals at Syon Park, West London (back in the day when they had animals) to feed and care for the animals there, I would visit every zoo and safari park I could (one of my favourite experiences was visiting Woburn Safari park when I was 7 and being up so close to the lions, and giraffes and the cheeky monkeys. Although I truly wanted a dog, my mum would never get one for me, instead she bought me two cute little green bodied and purple-headed love birds.
