Avoid This Mistake If You're Young

How the passion of youth makes us feel lost.

As a young man looking to develop himself, whether through videos, books, podcasts or amazing little newsletters (like this one ;), my search for knowledge and answers took me down many paths and to many thinkers.

Jordan Peterson, the Stoics, Nikola Tesla, Philosophize This podcast and various people in my life I look up to have influenced my personal growth in one way or another. They’ve given me lessons and tools to apply said lessons, both of which improved my life in many ways.

Some of them were pretty clear-cut, like a new insight which changed my perspective and added to my mental peace. Those are a blessing. Then, there are others, which weren’t so straightforward.

I want to write about this insight I’ve gained seemingly out of the blue. Well it wasn’t out of the blue; it was much more methodical than I first thought.

A shift in my thinking happened, one which I never anticipated or thought would come. It changed my whole outlook on self-development and knowledge accumulation.

I realized I’m young.

This may seem silly.

But, bear with me.

Before I dive deeper into it, I want to mention a pitfall many, and I would even say most of us, fall into during our journey of self-actualization. It’s almost impossible to avoid, especially if you’re a teenager or in your twenties.

It’s the availability of too many different viewpoints and perspectives.

Don’t get me wrong, entertaining differing belief systems is healthy. But it’s not easy. You’re consuming ideas and insights people have worked a good part of their lives developing and putting into practice. And here you are, on your phone or laptop, taking it all in with lightning speed.

Then, you move on to the next thinker, next viewpoint, next idea.

This process can be endless if you allow it. Maybe you have, as I did, heard the old phrase “life will knock you down” too many times and wanted to prepare for it. Listening to people with much more wisdom, knowledge and experience could spare you a mistake or two: they do say to listen to your elders.

While you can get the first two things, the third one isn’t transferable; experience. What kind of life experience do you have? Some, but we’ve agreed that you’re young, as am I; there’s not a lot of it.

We haven’t had the time to endure life’s tests. The pace at which we are able to consume ideas in the modern world leaves us no time to put them to the test, to reveal their flaws and merits; we don’t have a reference point.

So, in the absence of real world experience, what do you do? You cling. Just as you clinged to your first girlfriend or boyfriend (maybe you haven’t, in that case I applaud you), you start clinging to ideas. They are the light in the darkness, a way out of this scary journey we call life.

All of this results in you being pulled in all directions; one day Marcus Aurelius seems like the Messiah, the other day it’s Nietzsche. Some days, it’s neither.

You keep doubting these pillars of security you proclaimed as your saviors. What if they’re wrong? What if this other thinker has it right? Should I follow his advice? WHAT DO I DO?

This doesn’t sound like you. But why do you do this?

This question had been eating me away for a long time. I kept blaming myself for hopping belief systems; I would subscribe fully to a set of ideas and then my conviction would crumble when they would inevitably get challenged, whether by different ideas or by life itself. When I did use the ideas in the real world, they weren’t nearly as easy to implement or effective as I thought they would be.

I thought there was something wrong with me.

And this is the revelation that shook me; it’s the passion of youth.

Youth demands answers at once and goes to great lengths to get them. Because it has no reference point, it sticks to any and all signposts that seem good at the time. It’s impatient and fickle.

When I realized this fickleness in me, something that every human in the world has or has had, I made peace with it.

I let it flow through me.

I’m impatient because I’m young; I’m indecisive because I’m inexperienced.

There’s nothing wrong with me.

Knowledge, no matter how profound or great, can’t outpace experience. You can’t know something for what it truly is until you have seen it in action, in movement. That’s when good ideas thrive, and bad ones die.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t develop yourself or seek knowledge if you’re young. By all means, do it. But, don’t take it too close to your heart. Nothing is set in stone.

You know how babies are attracted to shiny things? Well, we are still babies, except our shiny things are philosophies and morning routines. And do those babies fret when the things break? Yeah. But, they’re babies; they can’t help themselves.

Keep learning and improving, and don’t be so hard on yourself.

Life will do it for you.

Stay inspired.

If you think you’ve gained any value from my writing, there’s a way to support me which won’t break the bank. Subscribe, like, comment or send this to someone who may find it interesting.

Thank you for taking the time out of you day to bring me closer to my writing dream.