When you look back at your childhood, do you remember each and every day of your life?
When you look back at your school days, do you remember each and everything that you were taught?
When you look back at your college life, do you remember each and every lecture that you attended?
While the answer for all of those questions is going to be a big no, what’s the point of these questions then?
Whether you have introspected upon your life or not, the biggest takeaway from these questions is, there’s no way to remember it all. You have lived your life, that phase was a part of it, you learnt new things, you grew, you evolved, and however you are today is a result of that.
But that’s not it. When you look back, what can you remember?
Certainly not the chapters you had to learn verbatim before the exams, certainly not the diagrams and maps and what not you had to draw.
What you can remember, is also a big takeaway for your life, one that you can use now to live your life ahead.
You don’t remember the school days; you remember specific moments (specific experiences) from that phase of life.
You used to wake up daily, you used to get dressed and go to school, attend your lectures, get back home, do your homework, prepare for your examinations, and you did that for 10 years of school (and that followed somewhat during college too).
But what you remember at the end of it, are specific experiences that you had during that time. You remember those particular moments and you think that school life was enjoyable (forgetting that routine, that pressure).
And now that same cycle repeats when that generation grows up and has to work during their 20s and ahead, and focus all their time there, following that same checklist – wake up, go to work, sit for a period of time, and then come back to do the same all over the next day.
The point being, when you think about it, in about 15-20 years, you won’t be remembering any of these days, in particular, all you’ll remember is a few experiences during this time that will sum up those 15-20 years, or your professional and/or personal life.
When that realization hits you, then you’d want to do things differently… You might want to take a different approach, a different path, maybe balance your time or balance your life in a different manner and move your focus elsewhere.
A minor amount of time is spent reminiscing upon your school days, and you come out with a key takeaway that has the potential to majorly affect the rest of your life.
RTH24 