What I’ve learned in my 20's
Hi there! After several months of not writing, I think tonight is a good day to splurge all the jumbled-up thoughts in my mind. Yup, tonight I’m going to share with you what I have learned in my 20’s that is actually a bit of a roller-coaster ride. Here you go :
Enjoy your solitude, but not lonely
As I get older, I realize that being alone has given me serenity and solemn time to re-evaluate my life. Uhm, I have to tell you dirty little truth about life, every togetherness that we share with that special person will not last forever. That’s why you need to enjoy your own company, not every phase of life will be accompanied with neither your best friends nor your partner. Have a hobby that only involve “me, my self and I” moment such as journaling, meditation, and solo running.
Once you are engaged with your body and soul then you’ll find peace within yourself which nobody can take them away from you.
Everybody makes mistakes, and we learn from it
During my adulthood, I can’t remember how many times I did something wrong at work, having bad experiences with my romantic relationships, did so many errors in playing sports, singing off-notes to my piano tones and other uncountable ones.
Did I feel regretful from doing mistakes? To me, let the bygones be bygones.
I don’t want to dwell in the past and focusing on the next step after making mistakes. Yes, focusing on the solution, focusing on what I can learn from what I did wrong. When I made mistakes, I always remember the off parts and try not to do it again.
Okay, this experience did not come out from adulthood period but this one really stay in the soul. When I was in grade 7, I was told by the Language Arts teacher to read a paragraph in the book which I forgot the title was and I came to this word “SECRET”. Then, I pronounced it as “SIKRIT”, and I got the whole class laughing at me. I was so embarrassed, but then my teacher corrected my pronunciation to ” see·kruht”.
From that experience of making mistake, I learned an unforgettable lesson. So now, I always remember what I did wrong and never pronounce that ” see·kruht” incorrectly. I believe, that applies to every part of life.
When It’s meant for you, It always find a way to find you back
Well, if you are following my blog maybe you’ll get bored with my statement above, but this is just inevitable truth about life. Okay here’s the story. In the morning I usually get up early and take a jog in Gelora Bung Karno. On that day, I brought my ID along. Little did I know that, I accidentally dropped my ID when I unzipped my waist bag. At noon, I realized that there’s DM in IG who slide in to my account and this guy told me that I dropped my ID but I didn’t need to worry because he kept it safe for me. To be honest, I’m not kind of person who read DM from strangers in IG and give them any response. At first, I thought it was a scam, until I found out that I couldn’t find my ID in my wallet. Actually, my mind is still all over the place, thinking is this guy helping me sincerely or…. ? Yup all those thoughts. After that, I responded his DM and made an appointment where he would give back my ID. When I met him, he told me that he’s a GBK security and he didn’t have IG but he voluntarily created one after getting my ID. He said that he searched in IG my full name and tried to contact me there. I’m more than just lucky and blessed, I could not imagine all the administration procedures that I’ll be facing if I lost my ID. When I told my friends about my story, they are amazed that actually there are random strangers in Jakarta who has this act of kindness and helpful.
The keynote from my experience is that whatever or whoever that is meant for you, maybe in some way you lose hope like it’s too hard or it might sounds impossible to get back to you, they will find you just like my lost ID that finds his way back home to me.
The hardest battle is not you against others, but you with your self
Yes exactly! By now, I don’t care much about trend or other people’s opinion in a way. Yet, I care so much about “me, myself and I”, my growth and my willingness to do useful activities other than my job. It’s very important to stop procrastinating, to stop scrolling my phone looking at other people’s life in media social. It’s like “Ayu, stop it. Go out now and create your own happiness, or do useful activities”. So rather than competing with people, I rather competing with the past-version of my-self. For example, I did read few books in 2022 then I have to increase the number of books that I read in 2023.
In the past, I used to compare my self with others which make me dizzy to be honest. I turned out to be a person who is far away from being grateful, dwelling in the past and anxious about what will tomorrow bring. Happy? NO! Then, when I compare my current version of me vs the past version, I’m very fulfilled and grateful for every progress.
Even baby steps is better than nothing at all because consistency is the key, mates.
Life is a beautiful journey not a destination
When my objective is reaching a destination, I disregard all the color that I’ve been through, I don’t even give some time for sight-seeing and I do miss all the beauty of the world. In 2022, I read an eye awakening book from Haemin Sunim “The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down” that really matched my situation. At that time I realized that I run everything too fast and I need to slow down a little.
Hey guys, I know we are all youngsters who are focusing on career and wealth but we should not forget to enjoy the moment. When I started to shift my point of view from getting to my destination on time to POV where I want to enjoy this beautiful ride called journey. Slowly but sure, the burden of the idealistic life of getting all the bucket lists on time is fading.
When enjoying my journey, surprisingly I got a chance to meet new crazy friends, loved ones, nice and cozy places, new experiences or even doing things that I never thought I could. You are in so much power when enjoying this beautiful life, more than you could ever imagine.
We are not perfect, embrace it. Seek for the opportunities and just keep going
There are people who told me,” Ayu I couldn’t be a writer because writer has to write all those powerful things and I cannot apply it to my life everyday “. I would frankly say, YES IT APPLIES TO ME TOO! Clearly, I’m not perfect and I’m not in this positive mental stage everyday and is that wrong? No, not at all.
We are all human. Our emotions are changing everyday, the other day our motivation is lacking and that is so natural. Please, embrace it 😊
One thing we should remember, just keep going. Failure is even better than not trying at all.
Let me tell you about my failure, I did flunk the entrance test to Universitas Indonesia when I was 17, and now I feel easy about it because that failure has brought me to who I am today.
Sometimes when we need to accept failure because God has better plans for us and not because we are less.
A little bit of tips from me, during our struggles be open to many opportunities, stop looking at that closed doors and see the open windows. You might get all the blessings unexpectedly.
Always remember what Dori said in Finding Nemo “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming”
Talking about being perfect is making us nuts because no one is perfect. I learn so much about imperfections in piano, during improvisations on the songs I usually missed out some keys or making mistakes but I have to think fast on how to make off-notes keys become entertaining. Yes, even the off ones could sound beautifully melodious.
Embrace it. Just keep going.❤
With God everything is GOOD
Last but not least, as I get into this roller coaster ride called adulthood everything is just unpredictable. I have to be wiser in absorbing the information, filtering people in my circle and be pickier in almost everything for my own safety.
At many times, I’m in a position where I don’t know what’s best for me then I always surrender all my problem to God. When we are with Him at any time and anywhere, I believe God will make sure we are all good at all cost.
Always remember, everything is possible with God.
And that’s all for tonight. Hopefully my experiences could be inspiring for you guys. Let’s do our best and don’t forget to enjoy the ride! Yes, We are loved. We are blessed beyond measure!
Love,
Ayudia Kirana
