Sushiksha

There are times when I really wish Time Machines were a reality, so I could go back in time and fix so many of the things that I’ve done wrong or just do them in a different way than what I did back then. Unfortunately, (Or fortunately) that isn’t the case. However, it is interesting to delve a little deeper into the fact that what would I advise my younger self to do differently or start or stop doing. Would I even? Would I let some things remain just the same so my younger self could learn from his mistakes? I will try to answer some of those questions in the upcoming paragraphs.

I was one of the fortunate people who had the chance to get into an English-medium school right since my Kindergarten. My parents, although weren’t that well versed with English, had known the importance and scope of learning English right from an early age. They never compromised on that for me and made sure I had the best English-based education foundation, even though they could barely afford it. If I could go back, I would love to go back and thank them from the bottom of my heart for doing so. They also made sure to give me the best possible education and made sure that I studied and scored good and I’ll remain grateful to them for it.

One thing I would like to change back from that point, however, is how lazy I was to pick up my books and study. I would only start studying when exams approached which sometimes would lead to me scoring less than what I could if I had started earlier on. I was reluctant to write notes. I would keep my books incomplete as I preferred studying from my textbooks rather than writing notes. Although I was comfortable in this, there would be times where I had to complete all my books in a week or so as the teacher would ask for the notebooks to be submitted for correction. I would then realize that it would have been better if I did actually have completed my books on time as I wouldn’t have so much to write in such a short time. I didn’t change that habit of mine for my entirety of Primary, Secondary, and even most of Higher Secondary Education, to be honest, and that’s something that I regret slightly and wish I could advise my younger self to not have done.

One more and most important thing I would have told myself to do was to explore more. Learn more and discover what I wanted to do early on in life rather than in the second year of my engineering. I would tell myself to look around and find my passion and take on that passion and do what I wanted to do. To get along with like-minded friends and have genuine conversations and loads of fun. I would tell myself to be outgoing and take initiative. Participate in events, go up on stage more and speak. To bunk a few classes and have fun with friends in the canteen.

Talking about the canteen, I would tell myself to eat a little less though. To concentrate on both, my physical and mental health more. It is just as important to be mentally strong and fit as it is to be physically. Exercising regularly, being open about the things I’m not okay with and the problems I’m facing is extremely important for a healthy lifestyle and is crucial at adolescence that teens are made aware of these things.

Probably one of the last things I would tell my younger self is to be himself. Never Change. Even though I told him some things he should have and shouldn’t have done, I would never ask him to follow it strictly or do or don’t do the things that I did or didn’t do. There’s a famous Hindi saying that goes “Kheencha hua kaan se mila hua Gyaan, humesha yaad rehta hai” and I’ve been the biggest follower and realizer of this saying and would totally support it if he did the same. One thing to never forget though would be that many people say that you only live once, but believe that that’s not true and that you only die once and live every single day and would ask him to enjoy every single moment of his life, the highs, the lows, everything because in the end, all you have are memories. Because, you know, No one at the death bed has ever said that they’d hoped they'd spent more time at the office, working hard and earning more, but have wished they could’ve relived these memories one more time.

-Shri