Not to worry so much

When I started university, fresh out of school, 17 and living away from home for the first time, I was in the midst of seismic changes to my spiritual beliefs. But in retrospect, I see that I was simply trying to figure out who I was and my place in the universe. University, with its lectures and social life, its exams and sports, were all just a backdrop for the real learning that was taking place as I sparred with the pressures and pleasures of daily life as a student.

If I could have given my young self some advice, it would have been not to worry so much; not to put so much pressure on himself to make progress and to fulfill that elusive potential. I would tell him that time and life is on his side; that the things that seem desperately important to him in the swirling moment may not always be so important later on; that failure really doesn’t exist, despite it feeling like such a burden.