Your life will take a lot of turns and at several points you will realise that there are some things you should have actually done differently or not at all. If you have 1, 2 or several moments that you are regretting and feeling bad about-DO NOT.
Having regrets in your life is your rite of passage and means you are well aware of the course your life is taking and you are paying attention. So do not be too hard on yourself if
1. You do not have a clearly defined career path
These days when you are young and have a job any job at all it is a mighty achievement. Yes, you studied Urban Planning, Sales and Marketing or African Development Studies but you are working as a manager in a hardware store or a cashier-cum-receptionist for a friend of your grand-parents or, you are simply buying and selling stuff. You really have no defined title so it means you have no defined career path. Regretful it maybe but this is a job and it pays so press on!
Continue working on improving your skills, keep an eye out for opportunities and take those opportunities that come along while you work in your ‘until- something-better-comes-along’ job. Not having a clearly defined career path is not a death knell in your professional life. And mind you a career is NOT something that comes along overnight. A career is something that happens over time and even if right now you may not think or feel so- you are working on a career by doing something with your life ( After all isn’t a career something that you do with your life?).
Today this something you are doing may or may not have a clear career path or title but if you are going to press on, be alert and pro-active one day it will translate into a house, a car, an education for your children and a comfortable retirement.
2. You value money
Starting to value money is kind of a taboo especially when you are in your early work life. What’s the point of having cash if you don’t spend it immediately? When you have it, you should spend it all, right? Maybe but, if you do realise earlier than your friends that you are beginning to value money and are worried that you will not be well liked, be the cool and fun person in the weekend foursome-Stop worrying about it!
Beginning to put value on your money as soon as possible is empowering and you will be the 1 out of the 4 in the cool gang that has a respectable bank balance or a set of steadily money churning investments. Believe you me by the time you reach your late 30s to early 40’s a lack of any meaningful financial foothold will NOT be so cool a thing!
3. You are the last one in your circle to marry and add babies
Many people will get married and have babies in their twenties and feel completely fulfilled and blessed but you decided to wait and are not so sure now that you are hitting the thirties!
Well yes, it’s easier when you’re in your 20s to get married and have babies but you will find that you do not worry so much about the things you worried about a decade ago that sort off ate away at your self-esteem. And getting married in your 30s is not too old and neither is having babies! It is actually a great time.
It’s the time that you are comfortable within your skin and do understand yourself. Yes getting a little wider or heavier will happen because as time goes by your body will change (the human body tends to do that-it is normal). Just take good care of your-self by eating healthy food and exercising.
Do NOT do things because your family are nagging or because you want to catch up with your BFF’s time-line! Rushing into something too quickly has a way of not ending well.
