The Top Piece of Advice I Wish I Knew When I Was 22

#IfIWere22

LinkedIn invited bloggers to help guide new grads by looking back to when we were 22.  
I decided to share what I know now that I wish I had known then.....

#IfIWere22!  When I was 22, I had just graduated from college and had already been married for a year.  To be honest, despite what others may have thought, I still had no idea what I really wanted to do.

That realization didn’t even begin to come to me until I was 34!  That is the year I, along with 2 partners, started a business.  It was 1996 and I still wasn’t 100% positive that this was “it”.  But I had two young children and thought this could be a perfect compromise between being with them and doing something for myself.

Starting a New Business was a lot of work! 

By the time 2004 rolled around, I was on my own.  As I look back now, I was actually closer than I had ever been to doing something that really made me happy.

Since then I have ignited a passion for my work and for the blog I started along the way.  I have focus.

That is why...

The Top Piece of advice I would give to New Grads is RELAX.  "Tweet This"

Not knowing what you really want to be or how to get there is not the end of the world.  

The key is to never stop learning about yourself and the world around you. That is where you will find your passion and your purpose.

If I have one regret, it is suffering many angst filled days because I thought I needed to have my life plan in place.  

I always believed that graduating from college meant I would be on my way.

When that didn’t happen, the best thing I ever did was to leave myself open to new experiences.  I never stopped learning and trying new things.  I joined relevant LinkedIn groups, dived into social media, and started blogging on issues important to small business.  

This got me ahead in my career more than I would have ever thought possible.

My Family 1987

And along the way I found I loved my life as it was, not how I had thought at 22 it should be.  

That was not always easy ~ but that is okay.  Life is meant to be messy.

As an added piece of advice ~ 

Don’t Forget to Enjoy the Ride.  

Relish the unpredictability of life and cherish being with those that you love and make you happy.

It is there that you will find what matters.

Please Pay it Forward and Share this on your favorite social sites! Thanks!

Authored by  

You can find this article published directly on LinkedIn here.

Check out our website and find out more about what we do on our About Us and our Hiring, Business Mentoring, and Security Consulting pages!