Big Sister Advice #20

In addition to the Q & A, I’ll offer you some general words of wisdom, or stuff to think about, as you find helpful.

On “Achievements”

It’s in quotes because we’re going to chat about how you will probably get to a point in your life where you realize that you’ve achieved all the things that a previous version of you wanted. Or maybe it is that you’re a few years past schooling and certification and it feels odd for a year to go by without a new grade or a new certificate that details what you’ve accomplished.

Youth and young adulthood are filled with these achievement milestones, and once you get past them, it can feel like your life is marching in place. You don’t have a graduation to tell you that you’ve completed something or moved to a new level. But you have. Chances are, if you’re continuing to put in the work to grow, you are now better at speaking up for yourself than you used to be, or you can lift heavier than you did before, or your financial nest egg looks way healthier than it did in your younger years.

There will be seasons of adulthood that don’t have these achievements, and if you’re a person to whom achieving things means a lot, you’re going to have to figure out your own metrics for success. Choose things that are slow and steady. Maybe the next thing you achieve is the perfect ravioli made from scratch, or being able to deadlift your body weight, or finally building up your emergency savings from three months of expenses to six.

The real thing here is learning that achievements only matter as much as you allow them to. So what are you allowing? What are you valuing?