I Wasted My Adolescent Years

There are a lot of great videos on Youtube. Some will make you laugh, some will make you cry, some will inspire you and some may make you feel like you wasted your adolescent years. Since anyone can record a video and upload it for the world to see, you don’t have to spend too much time on Youtube to find some very talented people. Among those talented folks are kids and teenagers.

I was looking up some guitar tutorials one day and came across a video of a kid playing, More Than Words. Here’s the video:

His name is Sungha Jung. He was probably around 11 or 12 years old in this video. He started playing the guitar in early 2006 at the age of 9 and now plays all around the world, which led to a movie role, and is quite popular on Youtube with more than 1 million subscribers and over 600 million video views. He’s inspired a LOT of people to play the guitar.

“Good players inspire themselves. Great players inspire others.” – Unknown

(image: dougwheller.co.uk)

While watching his videos, I couldn’t help but wonder what in the world I spent my spare time doing during my teenage years. I realized I spent a lot of my spare time watching TV and playing video games with my friends. I now wish I had spent those years more wisely.

I then started to wonder what I would wish I had spent my spare time doing if it was 10 years from now. My teenage years are long gone but I still have right now. I’m going to spend it more wisely than I did in the past.

I’m more than twice this kid’s age but he inspired me to spend my spare time developing an enjoyable skill that will be with me for the rest of my life. So I can either sit here and think, “If only I…”, or I could say, “It’s never too late…” or “Better late than never” and start spending my spare time more wisely from now on so that 10 or 20 years from now, I can look back and think, “That was time well spent.”

As I’ve stated many times on this site, whenever you come across something that inspires and motivates you to do something, immediately take action. Don’t just think about it, do it. The longer you wait, the more excuses your mind will come up with to not do anything.

Now Is The Time

So whether you’re a teenager or much older, do something useful with your spare time if you’re not already doing so. Find a hobby or an enjoyable/useful skill and get good at it.

It could be anything. Whether it’s singing, drawing, dancing, building stuff, speaking different languages, martial arts, cooking, playing instruments, video editing, programming, or anything else, if it’s a skill you wish you had, there’s no time better than right now to start developing it.

And if you’re still young, take advantage of it. The older you get, the more responsibilities you will have which means you’ll have less spare time. You’ll also tend to be slower at learning things as you age so seriously, take advantage of your youth.

Keep in mind that depending on the skill(s) you choose, it could take years of practice and dedication to get good at but don’t let that stop you. Ten years from now, you’ll be glad you stuck with it.

“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.” – Earl Nightingale

What skills do you wish you had spent time developing?

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