Just turned 22 You're my role model. How would you describe yourself at 22?
At 22, I’d describe myself as a smug bastard who was slightly self-absorbed, moderately impatient, severely aggressive, and obsessively focused on one single goal: accumulate wealth to secure freedom from the bullshit known as poverty. That’s it. Check my personal tag to learn more about my childhood and struggles with anger management, but my priority back then was to rescue my family from the brink of homelessness and financially set them up for life. I’d label myself as “highly promising, highly problematic.”
The turning point was when I was accepted into a top university that same year with a full scholarship. My university experience deeply impacted me in a Harry Potter-esque way because it removed me from my dysfunctional home life and put me in a place where things were functional. I had never been in an environment where I didn’t have to worry about money and where there wasn’t constant stress and fighting. In college, I lived in an amazing dorm, had access to unlimited gourmet food, and had no distractions except to study and enjoy college life as a “normal” college kid. I was surrounded by competent, educated, and supportive professors, administrators, and staff who did everything in their power to make me successful. I had peace.
I originally came to college with the intention of blazing through it quickly so I could graduate and start making money as soon as possible. I didn’t want to waste time on social events and anything that didn’t contribute to my goals because I felt I had already lost too much time from dropping out of college 2 years prior. This completely changed when I met some of the most brilliant, ambitious, and kind people that became lifelong friends. They taught me the value of friendship, teamwork, support, and networking outside of pursuing pure proficiency. When I think back to college, I don’t remember the A+ on tests, the lab assignments, or my GPA-- I remember attending wild college football games against our rival, our weekly trips to the beach complete with frozen yogurt and pretzels, and rolling out of bed in our pajamas to grab brunch at the dining hall. They made my college years more than simply productive-- they made them unforgettable. They showed me a new normal. I still consider this one of the most transformative experiences of my life.
This blog doesn’t intellectually plagiarize and rip off other people’s ideas, thoughts, and writing from somewhere else on the internet. Everything I write is original content drawn from my mind or my experiences and the reason why I have this much experience to write about is because I’ve screwed up a lot in my life, at many things, often, and spectacularly. It’s great to have role models and to read about other people’s experiences but at 22 I highly encourage you to make your own mistakes, to learn your own hard lessons, and to advance your own development.
