Ah 2020… The Pandemic, also the year where I closed the chapter of my university days and transitioned into the life of being a working adult. I gotta say, university years was one of my most memorable days, it was a phase in life where I have zero obligations to answer to, and every new schooling session was just like a reset button. However, I feel that those 4 years could be more plentiful, and it seems that there are a few things I hope I would have learned / done in those 4 good years.
The Time Is Now
March 18 2020, Malaysia declared a nationwide lockdown, little did I knew it would have been the last time I seen some of my friends, our classes became online classes and I literally ended my senior year through a screen. I was lucky enough to meet some of my closes friends one last time before moving my belongings back home from my dorm, and I kinda wished I had more time to spend with them on that day.
Looking back, there were times where my friends proposed to go for a trip and we would discuss for a short while but sadly to no fruition of the proposal due to various reasons.
In the beginning of our senior year, we set out to seize every opportunity to do the things we should have done in our freshmen to junior years. We did got 1 to 2 opportunity to do so which I’m thankful, however I guess by now you would have figured out that we didn’t had the chance to do more, and probably not anymore. I wouldn’t blame anyone for that, but if you’re still deliberating if you should go to that trip with your friends, grab the opportunity, cause you wouldn’t know if you’d have the opportunity the other time.
Spending Time Alone
I know this seems conflicting to the previous point I made, but hear me out. Before I got into university, I tend to love spending time with me, myself and I. After getting into university, I was somewhat affected to being too used to having people around me, which made me felt kind of uncomfortable spending time alone. In my senior year, I had a little bit more opportunities to be detached from my friends due to our different schedules and I’d say the enjoyment I got from watching a movie while having dinner in my dorm room alone was a small getaway I enjoyed a lot.
Investing
I consider myself lucky to had the opportunity to have a taste of how money could earn money for me after my dad introduced me to growth funds during my junior year, I basically did nothing and let my money sit there which earned me RM400 after 1 year. I know it’s not a big number to begin with, but it was a window which made me see that there are other ways to accumulate wealth.
In my final semester I set out to take investing a little bit more seriously, I took my money out of the fund and got into the stock market. I look forward to seeing how much my money has grown after 3 years from now. Thinking back, I’d hope that I had spent more of my free time or started earlier to learn about investing. I admit that I’m no financial guru, let alone an investing pro, but this quote from Warren Buffett has hit me close to home.
If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.
Reading
I was the kid who always have a curiosity to almost everything and just loved asking questions (dumb ones included), which eventually led me to having the nickname of the “Problem Student” every once in a while. As I get older, I just have a huge interest on how people think, and that is what has led me to the activity of reading.
Right now I’d truly agree the idiomatic saying that reading is a window to the world. A book is basically a documentation of the writers experience / life lessons in the form of text, and as I devote the time to read I had the opportunity to help myself from not making the same mistake or obtain a better understanding on something without having to spend as much time as the writer had to. In addition to reading, I’d say any medium that helps in broadening your perspective is always valuable, like podcast listening.
There are times which I do not agree to what I’ve come across, but it has helped to better understand my values and where they’re coming from while at the same time helping me learn how other would perceive the same issue and their thought process.
Finding Out How I Learn Best
During my junior year I was exposed to the podcast episode below on my friend’s Instagram story, and it has gave me a glimpse on how my I want things to be after graduation, to continue learning, or to start learning for real.
I have not been the brightest student in my class, and I’d also admit the fact that I am one of the worst students if we’re talking about CGPAs. Truth be told, I do not feel like I’ve used much of what I’ve learnt in university for my first and current job as an engineer, and I had to learn everything on the fly as my company utilizes a lot of internal tools. This was probably the time when I found out how I learned best, or the fastest. Ever since, I had applied it to whatever I’m spending my time on learning.
Many might think that you do not need to actively learn anymore after obtaining your degree, and this is where things are so off in my opinion. Especially in the current era we’re in, where things are changing 24/7 and jobs are getting replaced by robots, so I do see the need of exploring new things every so often just to see what’s next for me.
All In All It Was Still Great
Truth be told, despite me having certain tiny regrets, I have to admit that my university years has been one of the most fruitful 4 years I had. Those 4 years were years where I explored myself better, adapting to a different environment, meeting people from different origins or backgrounds and gaining a handful of people I call friends.
Now, onto the next chapter we go! 🚀
