When I was a young guy, I heard the story of the Acres of Diamonds. Though I didn’t read the book until a decade later. The story is one of the few stories that influenced my early life decisions and thinking.
Somehow, I always believe that whatever I need is within and around me. Even as a young adult, I don’t expect any external miracle to transform my life, except I was willing to create such a miracle from within.
To be successful in life, you have to know how to appreciate and make use of the little, ordinary gifts you already have. If you appreciate these gifts, you’ll judiciously use them, and that will lead you to lasting success.
If you don’t appreciate some gifts nature bestows on you right now, you won’t make use of them and that’s going to be at your disadvantage.
In this article, I’ll be sharing with you 5 priceless gifts most young people have but never use.
- The Gift of Time
About eleven years ago, I decided to put an end to schooling against my parent’s wish. Everybody wanted me to go get a degree and do what everyone believes was right, but I wouldn’t listen.
I didn’t listen not because I hated school altogether but because I was afraid of wasting my time on little things like sitting down in a classroom, listening to some boring lectures, and competing with everyone because of some useless grades. I would rather get out to the real world, get my hands dirty, make mistakes and fail than enjoy the little life of the classroom.
My fear was about time.
You see, there’s a little window in your life when you can pursue your dreams, make all the mistakes, and fail as much as you can, and it wouldn’t matter. That window is when you’re young because you have a lot of time ahead of you.
Time is the only resource you can turn into anything else and achieve anything worthwhile in life with. You need an enormous amount of time to invest in learning, practicing, and doing.
The best period of your life to have all this time is while you are young.
Though many young people normally give excuses about how busy they are. You hardly can be busy when you’re in your early 20s, compared to your 40s. Instead of being truly busy, what many young people do is get busy with little things. Little things like gossip, arguments, social media, and movies.
Time is the most precious gift of life. To be successful in life, honor time. You must cherish and invest in it properly, especially when you’re young.
- The Gift of Willpower
There’s one pathetic thing I’ve discovered about life and that’s, the older we get, the smaller our dreams become. If you want to see this in the real world, interview a 10-year-old boy about what he wants to be. He can tell you anything and believes that he can somehow achieve it.
Ask a 20-year-old young man and he’ll be a little reserved. Then ask a 40-year-old man and he probably will not have any dreams at all. All these happen because we’re living in a very poisonous world.
The world has a way of killing our spirit bit by bit, so the older we get, the less we’re willing to dare because the smaller our dreams get.
Now that you’re young, you have great willpower and an open mind that can dream big. That’s a precious gift, but if you don’t nurture such a gift, you’ll soon lose it as you get older. One day you’ll look back at this time and wonder where all the youthful enthusiasm and willpower went.
Now that you’re young, direct your zeal toward the achievement of your life’s goals.
Make use of your today. Pursue your dreams now that you have the heart that believes it’s possible.
- The Gift of Freedom
If you’re in your 20s, you’re probably single and have no kid. No one cares where you go or what you do. Just wait until you’re married and have kids, then you’ll see that you cannot just go anywhere you wish or do anything you want. Your freedom to go anywhere isn’t just limited; your freedom to take any risk becomes limited as well.
Now you have to over-analyze all the possible outcomes of your actions and that will lead you to be too careful which will in turn affect how much you can achieve because the more actions and risks you can take, the more success you’re likely to have.
Your freedom is a gift. Now that you have it, make good use of it.
- The Gift of Health
If you see any 40-year-old person who claims to be completely healthy, maybe he’s not telling the whole truth.
As we grow up, our health gradually deteriorates. We cannot jump the way we used to. We cannot work as long as we used to. We have this special ailment we’re managing and all of that weakens us.
What a priceless gift, if you’re young and completely healthy!
Your health is an asset. Appreciate and use it to pursue meaningful things that will lead you to success. Don’t waste the time of your youth.
- The Gift of Relationship
In your 20s, you have all these friends who can give you emotional support. You can hang around people, dream, and make plans together. You can even form partnerships and pursue your dreams together. Don’t take that for granted because it’s for a short time.
As we grow older, we get busy and lose important friends. Our lives become lonely as we proceed through life. And as social beings that we are, the more quality people we have around us, the happier we are and the more we can do with our lives.
Now that you have all these friends, don’t take it for granted because it’s a gift. A time is coming when you may look back and see no one nearby. Make use of the gift of friendship now that you are young.
Hang out with positive people. Ask those who know more than you good questions. Seek partnerships and collaborations with some of your friends.
Make use of the opportunity for friendship now because it won’t last for long.
In conclusion, being young comes with some precious gifts. Unfortunately, most people don’t realize that all the little things listed in this article are gifts, so they don’t make good use of them.
Your time is a precious gift. You won’t always have much of it. Your health, your relationships, your willpower, and your freedom are all priceless gifts that come with being young.
The more you can make use of these gifts, the richer and more successful you can become.
Thank you