Redefining success and sanity: Thinking positive in late 20s and 30s
By Anna Chinseu Kamwezi
n American Costume Designer and Actress by the name of Crystal Renee Hayslett started one episode of her “Keep it positive Sweetie” Podcast with a strong sentence yet common amongst youths. She shared moments of her feeling stressed, anxious and isolated. This is someone who I would say is one of the seasoned, natural American actresses whose sense of fashion is top notch, having worked as a Wardrobe designer for Tyler Perry, one big name in American movie production industry.
She, in short, seems well-accomplished and yet, that is not how she feels sometimes. Most people in the age bracket above tend to be anxious about life. Anxious to hit 30, uncertain of what’s coming and sometimes always thinking they haven’t accomplished much so far and have a whole lot of ground to cover. Tell you what? It is young people that are doing wonders. They have the key to a better destiny with innovation, creativity and focus as a formula. Whilst others fear 30 or simply aging, let’s toss the coin and think positively. I should ask; what does this age bracket mean to you?
I would like to give a perspective of 20s and 30s, from my angle. Society sees it as an advanced stage in one’s life where everyone is and should at least have gotten it all together, calm and collected. This societal pressure is as old as the hills. Being aware of it and prepared for it should be protective gear. It will prevent you from making rushed decisions, being a copycat and lowering your esteem and ambitions. The pressure for young people is so real that others commit suicide or resolve to drug and substance abuse to ease the pain of having to deal with so much whilst watching their biological clock tick-tock.
From my perspective, this age bracket is the stage where one jumps outside the boiling pot to do things and think differently. Demotivation or no motivation at all is the new self-motivating factor to a jackpot. Why? Because everyone is innovating and doing things differently, you cannot expect your path to make sense to everyone. Build on the demotivating factors. It is a matter of turning things around regardless of age.
The truth about this bracket is that others are in it with many responsibilities whilst others reach this age range whilst being pampered by their parents. Get your circle right, as this influences, who one becomes. At this point, one’s mental capacity and judgment is a result of several external factors. Nowadays it is easy to be influenced by taking exercise seriously and easy to also just do video games all day long. Sadly, what one becomes highly hinges on their filtering ability.
It surely should not take the numerical 30 years of age before someone checks their own step and figures out how to treat a girlfriend or boyfriend if marriage is their goal. It should not take so long for a Malawian youth to observe our economy and notice that an investment in time saves nine. Not in this era where information about sound financial decisions is at the tip of the fingers. In addition, being well conversant with technology is such a huge plus.
This age range is the exploration stage and demands that one focuses on ways of making more clean money than ways of having more fun. Where money is made, the mind is satisfied, and to keep the mind healthy and satisfied, one starts thereafter to feed it with relaxation activities such as entertainment. Balancing life. Living a life that only focuses on enjoyment at the expense of one’s financial muscle always leaves one mentally struggling.
Harnessing sanity in this age range comes with a controlled lifestyle. To live a life according to one’s vision and principles. A plan that is not written down lacks a fermenting power to make it taste like real wine, to materialise. Health-wise, there are gradual steps to change behaviour that one can take to avoid complicating one’s immune system.
Sanitise life by controlling who you allow into your life, how much influence you can take from people, who you want to become, when you want to accomplish certain goals, how you would want to be treated in a relationship/marriage, and above all, control your image. It is within your power to be looked at as someone dependable, trustworthy, hardworking, someone who can attract success by just being themselves and doing the most with what they have at their disposal.
If we are to compare life after 30 and 50, you would notice that we plan retirement after 50 with a thin package for survival. There is a paradigm shift now, and the youth seem to be planning for retirement sooner than the retirement age. However, the world comes with its unplanned happenings such that we can only be certain about uncertainties. Being able to adapt and pick oneself up is a great survival trick for this century. Not everything goes according to plan, keeping one’s head above the water without looking at how fast others are cruising is a skill for mental composure and sustainability.
Too uncertain? That’s where the successful people stand out because they are risk-takers. A risk you can take now will make you wiser and help you navigate it all to achieve a desired life after 30. If success is anything to go by, keep looking at yourself and where you were five months ago. Keep improving that person and updating the cognitive system with new knowledge from seminars, courses, skill trainings, healthy peer chat, advice from people you look up to and above everything else, from God. Measure success with your own yardstick whilst applauding others, learning and relearning from yourself and others. Wishing you a prosperous 2026!
