If you have watched The chambers of Secrets from the Harry Potter series you must remember the remarkable advice given to Harry Potter by Prof. Dumbledore about the values of the choices in our life. He says, “It is not our abilities that show what we truly are. It is our choices.” Well, I must say that Professor Dumbledore is a visionary. These are actually our choices that define who we are and what we can become.
Youth is the most pivotal phase of our life. It brings enough vitality and aptitude. If someone gets good guidance at this age he can do great. If you’re young whether you ought to look for such guidance or educate yourself on your own which is definitely the best approach to learning. Here are the 10 things to do at a young age for developing a healthy lifestyle and a productive mindset;
1. Adopt Unfamiliar Environment For New Life Experiences
Do you love to go to new places? Do you like to meet new people? or are you a metathesiophobic or anthropophobic? Whether the answer is yes or not, in both cases you should take the same initiative — to adapt to the change. Changes are the inevitable phenomenon of life. It doesn’t matter you like it or not, they occur. Sometimes it’s bad and unwanted and sometimes it’s in our favor. But what is common in both terms, they occur to teach us life lessons and help us grow.
According to stoicism, we must see a change as an ongoing part of life instead of loss or win and the best way to celebrate it is to learn from it. So, if you think deeper and find out the value of the changes in life, you’re probably going to expose yourself to your fear. Instead of waiting for a change, step ahead, and bring a change in your life. Challenge your limits and go into an environment you have never been in before. That environment may be a physical place like a new city, country, or a new ethnic division of people or a new subject that you always wanted to learn or a new hobby to master.
According to psychology, whenever we face something unknown it challenges our present knowledge. It helps us to expand our understanding of reality. For every change that takes place, there is an experience and learning so why not invite them willingly? Rumi says, “Run from what’s comfortable. Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious. I have tried prudent planning long enough. From now on I’ll be mad.” So go mad. Expose to the changes and be adoptive to them.
2. Look Where You Least Want To
This is an upgraded version of the previous point. A new environment may give you nice experiences but the things you fear may give you the experiences you need the most. You must have heard many people advising you to expose yourself to the fear but the question arises, why should I get uncomfortable and step out of my comfort? Psychology says, facing something willingly that fears us and makes us disgust enables us to be insightful. Such confrontation gives us insights that are deciding for us to unlock our highest potential.
Commonly, subconsciously, there are many rejected thoughts in our psyche such as forgotten painful memories, childhood fears, or shamefulness of failure. By rejecting these convictions and feelings we make them unconscious and these rejected ideas control us without even realizing it. Rather than these rejected thoughts, there may be something else that fears you but trust me, whatever it is, this is where you need the most to improve. Remember, if you turn your back on what fears you will master you. And accepting and exposing to it will turn it into your much-needed strength.
3. Observe Nature And Feel The Life
Reading this article means you have a screen open to your eyes. So there are firm chances for you to be addicted to using social media and draining the coolness of your eyes over blue lights. This may be true or not but one thing that is certainly true is our belief in being privileged for urban life. But do you think it is so? We definitely have resources to make our life easy but we have lost our connection with nature.
We are a part of nature’s eco-system and our bodies are evolved to be so. Most of us don’t live with this connection in daily life. Our bodies don’t get enough sunlight. We don’t get charged with the earth’s electrical charge. We haven’t seen sparrows for a long time. We don’t even have fresh air to breathe in. This is our modern-day life. Have you ever thought about why people go on mountains for seeking peace rather than any high-tech city?
Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair — Khalil Gibran. So make sure you share a strong bond with nature. And feel how mood disorders can be lifted by spending more time with nature. Cultivate the habit to go outdoor periodically at a young age. Get aligned with the flow of nature.
4. Learn To Read, Write, And Speak
Once an interviewer asked Warren Buffet and Bill Gates about their desired superpower and guess what answer they delivered. They both desired to get the superpower to read super-fast. If you see, the most prominent reason for the progress of mankind is passing the gained knowledge to the next generation. Guess if there were no such things as writing and reading where would we have been ended?
Develop a habit to read books for, reading doesn’t only increase focusing and concentration ability but also sharpens the memory. Knowledge is an additional bliss. Practice writing in order to learn to organize your thoughts. Write something which is difficult to write like about your own life experiences. It would also help in self-awareness. And speak up about your ideas to communicate your thoughts fluently. It will help you address the problems in family or social needs.
A productive habit of reading, writing, and speaking will cultivate critical thinking in you and will help you to stand out from mediocre followers. A person who is capable of critical thinking is less likely to be misguided, unlike the one who isn’t. Critical thinking also makes you able to find out rationality in ideological thinking and politically correct argument.
5. Spend Time In Solitude And Find Meaning In Solitary
Solitude is the best way to figure out the purpose of life and being self-aware. Solitude is a state of isolation without being alone and it differs from loneliness. Loneliness is the sadness of not having friends or company. It is a negative and a bad feeling while solitude tends to have a positive effect on psychological well-being. Studies have found people who set aside time in solitary tend to be happier and satisfied. They are less likely to be stressed and depressed.
You have different roles to play with different people. When you’re with someone either you are a brother, friend, student, or son but who are you when you’re with no one? Do you like to be with yourself? Do you like your own company? A person who is not able to be happy alone will always be dependent on people for his emotional needs, wholeness, and happiness. Such people tend to have unhealthy and shallow relations. Jean-Paul Sartre says, “If you’re lonely when you’re alone, you’re in bad company.” So, start spending time with yourself at a young age and look if you’re a good company for yourself or not. If not, cultivate one.
6. Work As Hard As You Can On At Least One Thing
When you’re young you have enough energy and potential to diversify and bring out your passion and interest. You this accordingly and focus on at least one thing and give it all it requires. That may result in finding the devotion you need to accelerate your life or the field you’re really interested in. In case you failed, the satisfaction and experience of pursuing a goal with all your heart is a blissful outcome in itself. And you’re young so you can afford this failure. It will help to find you either success and passion or experience and learning.
7. Step Out Of Parental Shade And Take Responsibility ASAP
Although we all feel protected in the lap of our parents. But at a point in life we realize that our parents don’t have all the answers we are seeking. This realization is a very prominent part of adulthood. This cognizance may be a breakthrough in a young man’s life. Although our parents make the best possible sacrifices for us but keep in mind we share a generation gap between us and our parents. They belong from a quite different time from ours. And we are capable of choosing what is better for us. Many people miss realizing it at an early age. Try not doing so. Step out of your parents’ shelter so that you may learn to face the challenges and difficulties on your own and grow. Make your parents feel proud of your abilities.
8. Make Peace With Your Family
Being responsible and independent doesn’t mean giving up on your family. Remember, the family is not an important thing, it’s everything. Be self-dependent but at the same time incorporate your family’s ethics and values in your life. If we compare the family values of eastern and western countries we find western society suffering from a high divorce rate. Couples share unhealthy relations and a bad environment for parenting. On the other hand, the eastern social structure is relatively more stable. Joint families are common in south Asian countries and people in these countries embrace their family values.
So put your family first. Fix it if there is any prolonged trauma. Know about your ancestors. Strengthen familial bonds and spend time with your family. You didn’t choose your family, it’s god’s gift, as you’re to them. Look after it.
9. Find Your Role In Society
I never get why people seem unwilling in finding their place in this vast structure of society and the world. God has given us the opportunity to bring a change to the universe in our own way — whether it’s small or big. Either people tend to be unaware of it or they are playing a character given by society. And someone who doesn’t know his role will surely play dumb and lost and will end up being a bad character with no influence.
Set aside time for solitary, be aware of your thoughts, and find the reason for your existence so that you may live a purposeful life being yourself and contributing to the functionality of the universe. “The soul which has no fixed purpose in life is lost; to be everywhere, is to be nowhere.” — Michel de Montaigne
10. Make Health Your Top Priority
Calling someone fat, unhealthy, or unfit is considered politically and morally wrong but unfortunately, it’s something true too commonly. Youths have to understand that being fat or unhealthy is no cool and they have to take care of their mind and body. Research on the health benefits of physical activity shows regular physical inactivity may lead to chronic diseases (e.g., cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, hypertension, obesity, depression, and osteoporosis) and premature death.
According to a research report published on sciencedirect.com, 14% of global diseases consist of various kinds of mental disorders are caused by neuropsychiatric, chronically disabling nature of depression, and other common mental disorders. Mental disorders increase the risk for communicable and non-communicable diseases and contribute to unintentional and intentional injury. Research demonstrates that there is no health without mental health.
So make your mental and physical health your top priority. Don’t go more than three days without exercise. Go to the gym, do yoga, take part in running and swimming, and eat healthily. Spend time in solitude. Stop overthinking and overestimating life situations. Let go of what you can’t control and practice nonattachment with temporary people and thoughts. Be humble and forgiving.
Conclusion
Youth is a very crucial phase of life where you may decide the direction of your life. Our generation always seems to be in a hurry and faking the real problems of life following social media trends. They might realize it when the time has gone. They must pay attention to their psychological well-being, physical health, self-awareness, life goals, and cultivating a productive lifestyle at a young age. If you’re in your 30s make the best out of your energy and potential. Lead your life to a productive and satisfying future. Learn what to do and what to avoid at a young age for a better future.
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