Today I am 30. And I never “achieved” what I thought I should have achieved by now.
But maybe I learned something more important.
If I could give 7 pieces of advice to myself a day before turning 20, this is what I would say.
1. Taste life in the moment.
Water satisfies thirst when you are thirsty.
Live life fresh. Drink it chilled. Eat it while it’s hot. Observe the whole palette, and feel the full range.
Do not postpone life for later. A moment is alive when it is happening to you.
Eat fruits in their seasons.
Snow belongs to winter. Sun belongs to summer.
And your life belongs to now.
2. Stay yourself, and learn to love yourself when it is hard.
It is easy to be confident and stable when everything works out.
Try to be gentle with yourself when you fail.
Try to stay on your own side when you are ashamed.
Try not to abandon yourself in the exact moments when you need yourself the most.
3. Do not build your life assuming everything will go well.
If your life is built only on your peak capacity, disappointment is inevitable.
You will not always be strong. You will not always be inspired. You will not always be supported.
So learn to live through small steps. The kind of steps you can take every day.
Even in the darkest days.
4. Choose challenges for who they will make you.
Most of what I worried about 5 years ago has no real meaning now. Most of what I dreamed about 10 years ago has almost nothing to do with reality.
But the things that shaped me stayed.
The pain stayed as wisdom. The effort stayed as capacity. The losses stayed as depth. The mistakes stayed as experience.
And all of it keeps giving me clarity through my journey.
So choose challenges not only for what they can give you, but for who they will ask you to become.
5. Do not take advice from people who live a life you do not want to live.
People will always have opinions.
Some will judge you. Some will project their fear on you.
Some will try to make your life smaller because they made peace with a smaller version of their own.
Listen carefully.
But do not hand your life to people whose path does not resonate with your soul.
6. Small steps compound.
There is no magic door.
No single perfect decision. No one moment where everything suddenly becomes easy.
Most real change is boring before it becomes visible.
Fast is slow, but without interruptions.
Small everyday steps. Small promises kept. Small acts of courage. Small returns to yourself.
Again and again and again.
That is how you build something that actually stays with you.
7. The cost of inaction is real.
Everyone knows trying has a cost. Mistakes have a cost. Naivety has a cost.
But wait till you get the bill for inaction. It is much higher.
The damage of something that did not happen is exactly what keeps the life you want away from reality.
Because one day you may realize you did not avoid pain.
You only avoided life.
So live.
Try. Love. Build. Rest. Begin again.
Take care of yourself.
Do not put your soul on an undesired shelf.
And do not wait until life becomes perfect before you allow yourself to be alive.
Today I am 30. I am not where I thought I would be.
But I am still here.
And I am more than enough… to be me.