Things I Have Learned Since High School

Back in high school, I had absolutely no clue what I was doing. Sure, I was president of this, president of that etc etc - but really, I did it because I thought it would give me some popularity. Looking back, I'm glad I did all those things, because I learned so much from them. But the problem still remained: I had no idea what I was doing.

As college life comes to a close, I've made some thought of what are some of the lessons I've learned here in college, and hopefully, will remain with me as I grow up.

(1) Everything always changes. Always. I've learned that I may have the most wonderful plans, but these plans never work out perfectly. What this means is that I've learned the need to be flexible and adapt accordingly. Also, it means that I've to learn the lesson of letting go. That's hard. Really hard. But it's necessary.

(2) Life is always about the circumstances, so it seems, but really, you don't have to blindly follow what society dictates. In South Africa, I've had the amazing opportunity to learn from 2 of the most prominent anthropologists in the country - John & Jean Comaroff. They taught me that everything, including values, changes depending upon how forces in the society work on each other. At one point, I had given up hope, because what that meant was that there was no way we could fight against the society. How they concluded their lessons though, was what really struck me. Although society may have been shaped in a certain way by the past, we can make a difference. If each and every one of us realizes that there is something that can be better about society, we can gradually, but surely, change it. And that, has become my life goal.

(3) Humility is the best policy. Despite having been in America, where many of my friends back home believe that being confident (or even arrogant) equals success in life, I've come out believing ever more so that humility beats arrogance any day. I had an amazing time interning with Value Partners in Hong Kong. The CEO would constantly remind us: "When you think you're smart, you'll probably end up making stupid decisions. But when you think you're stupid, you'll probably end up making smart decisions." And that has stuck with me ever since. At the same time, being humble means being able to throw away my ego and accept mentors who would be willing to teach me the lessons of life. Truly, one of the main reasons why I am who I am today is because I've had so many people teaching me or saving me from periods where I've been utterly destroyed. For that, I've been truly grateful.

And so, that ends this post. Although I still don't know exactly what I'll be doing, I believe as long as I firmly stick to the lessons that life has posed for me so far, I'll end up looking back with a smile. Steve Jobs said in his Stanford graduation speech that "You can only connect the dots looking back. You cannot connect the dots looking forward." So true. You can only have faith that your dots will finally connect. At the moment, all we can do is to do our best, and to do what we love.