Your priorities at 20 may not be the same as they are at 40 or even 60. Life is an ever evolving series of intersecting events that form the people we become. Our opinions change, our understanding of a myriad of topics and subjects evolve and we become (hopefully) more refined and intelligent in our view of the world. In that, the world benefits from our evolution.
When I was a child, my life goal was to play professional football. That is all I thought about. Early in my high school years, I had a major knee injury that sidelined that life goal, and I fell into a downward spiral that led to a lot of mayhem in my early life. Another sidelining event was my size. I didn't grow into a mountainous young man that would make a great nose-guard (my favorite position). I was just average size, but I was a very aggressive player who didn't let size matter, but my knee was going to set my course for a life priority change.
For nearly five years, my life was adrift, and my priorities and goals were lost. Fortunately, I learned a great lesson in my 20s. Life events can make us better, or they can make us bitter. I was bitter for a long time, but in my early 20s I became better. I set new priorities with new sign posts and goals.
The funny thing about my 20s priorities is that I could clearly see where I wanted to go. I did everything in the proper order, accomplished every goal, set new markers to make sure I stayed on course and when I reached my 40s I was still on course. I was moving in on my ultimate goals. Some health related issues caused a few hiccups along the way, but I wasn't totally off course. I just had to make some adjustments and continue to move forward.
By the time I reached my 50s, the goals that I had set in my 20s were no longer as appealing to me. They were great goals, full of a lot of exciting things, but thirty years of events had changed the person I was in my 20s. Now, as I peer over into my 60s (yes, I am that old), I see a whole new set of priorities. They don't resemble the 20s priorities in the slightest. The events from 20 to today have molded, destroyed, remolded and reformulated my priorities two times over.
The purpose of my story, is this, where your life will go is part planning, part happenstance and part providence. If you hold to a life goal as tightly as a 15 year old does, it may be your undoing. Life is a lot like a river. It ebbs and flows in a defined set of boundaries. Ever so often, a deluge of rain makes the river move out of its boundaries and it forms new ones. The new ones may bring fresh life to the land, livestock and families downstream. So, in that, can we say that it was a bad thing? What may look like a disaster in the heat of the moment may actually be a life-giving event in the end.
As your life ebbs and flows through time, I would encourage you to hold your goals and priorities in your hands very loosely. Allow them to change for the better as life events form the person you are becoming. You might be surprised at how much better life turns out than you had planned. Your priorities at 20 may not be the same as they are at 40 or even at 60. They may become better with time.
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