Your 20s Are A Waste of Time

I came across this video by Rich Roll who had Rainn Wilson as a guest in his podcast, where they tackled life’s deepest questions. There was a portion of the podcast that really hit home and it was his advice for 20 year olds.“Your 20s are a waste of time… Don’t worry about it. Don’t try to figure everything out.” This statement got me reflecting and it made me realize I’ve had this worrying thought constantly on my mind the last few months. “Why am I still not there?”. “There” being my goal or level of knowledge to pursue my dreams. This thought without realizing it, got me putting so much pressure on myself that I was constantly stressed without knowing it.

I’ve always had this sense that as I continue to study on my own, I’d be able to learn what it takes to become a great director, editor or music producer. But there are times I question if I’ll ever get there, or if the version where I am as a professional is what I imagined it would be. The thought got me sad, that I started questioning everything again, but the video came at a great time. It reminded me of what was important. What you may ask? It’s that I am still in my 20s.

Rainn Wilson says,“The point of your 20s… is to try 12 different things and fail at 9 of them. Get out in the world, try tons of stuff, fail, pivot, explore, travel, have a million experiences, and stop worrying about where it might lead you. The most interesting people I know took the winding path, and invested not in the destinations but in where their curiosity might lead.”

Mr. Wilson brings up a beautiful idea that the point of our 20s is to view this time in our life as a workshop, where failure and not understanding everything is FINE. This idea had me breathing in all those worrisome thoughts out. It taught me to relax and not to think too much about trying to reach my dreams in such a rush. I’ve come to find that my 20s become a waste of time filling it with too much worry about where I am going. This is the time to fill my life with a million experiences.