Advice For Teens - Tumblr Posts

I’m 26 this month and I’m a uni student in a degree that combines all my passions in one. It took me 8 years to figure out what I loved. Had I took the shitty advice people give you at 17/18, I would’ve become a psychologist, which I’m sure I would’ve been good at but I found out it’s not my passion. I would have a degree in something I’d grow loathing for while longing for passions unknown. I wouldn’t have had the time to reflect on my thoughts and actions that led me down this path.

Kids, if it takes you a decade to figure this shit out, then take a decade. 20 isn’t old, and neither is 30. Keep trying things out, of course, keep furthering your life and being productive, but if you don’t have an answer for who you want to be for the rest of your life in your teens, don’t let other people tell you what you should be.

Try out new things until you find something you love, then grind your skills in it until you’re good enough to make money from it or go to uni for it (if you truly want to! A good portfolio can get you very far without uni in a lot of cases! Research what minimum qualifications you need thoroughly, not just the first result on google). Please, don’t be pressured into doing a degree you aren’t excited to do. Yes, the excitement will likely wane after it gets harder, but if it’s truly for you you’ll stick through it.

Self-reflection should be a skill taught in schools, but unfortunately it isn’t, so you’ll need to develop it yourself. It’ll hurt, but you’ll grow so much.

Please don’t rush life, it’s not a super Mario 64 speed run, the only person you’re in competition with is yourself, and don’t expect to be the same level of productive every day, be gentle and patient with yourself. /end rant

I think that when we tell teenagers that their lives will be over if they don't have the most perfect possible trajectory through the education system, that this is, perhaps, if I may be bold, not good for them,