December 10, 2014 marks the day I turn twenty-six. Over the years there have been a number of important lessons I’ve learned. Today, I would love to share them with you all. Please leave any feedback or comments you may have. It would be fantastic to hear from you. Here we go…

1) Make a lasting first impression.

We meet and interact with people everyday. Do one thing, anything, the smallest thing, that will move them. Smile. Complimenting always works. It will make their day and they will always think of you fondly.

2) If you want to find yourself, travel.

In my 26 years the closest I’ve felt to myself, was miles away from home or anything I knew to be familiar. I found myself around a precarious bend on bear mountain that revealed miles of scenic beauty. I found myself deep in conversation with an old man who owned a diner in the middle of a lonely highway. I found myself in a warm Tom Yum soup on the beaches of Pattaya. I found myself in the scores of windmills that appeared across the horizon as I drove through Indiana. I found myself gazing at the magnificent Niagara Falls. In travel, I found myself.

3) Read. You initially appear smarter and eventually become smarter.

One of my MBA professors challenged us to read general business news at least once a week and assess for ourselves if we appear more intelligent in our everyday conversations. Believe me when I say, it worked. Reading is the greatest way to open your mind to new concepts and ideas. You have enough time to soak the information in and you can make connections like never before.

4) Parents are awesome, always.

We owe our existence to our parents who have seen us through the most formative years of our lives. They put up with our inexplicable teenage angst and our mood swings. They stayed up with us through the night when we were ill. Sure they don’t understand everything about us or the fast paced world. They may disagree and even yell but they love us. The purest kind of love. We may never truly understand them but we can love and respect them because we are lucky to have them.

5) ? everything

We wouldn’t be where we are as mankind if we didn’t ask questions. In today’s information rich environment it is important not to believe everything we are exposed or told to be true. Asking the right questions and relentlessly pursuing them will help push the boundaries of our knowledge and our reality.

6) Find what you are passionate about and make the time for it.

The finding part is never easy. Some of us have one avocation and some have many. Regardless of the amount or their dynamic nature, hobbies are motivating, relaxing and restorative. In my darkest times, the lyrics of a certain song uplifted me. I have the privilege of immortalizing beauty around me using my camera or the words of my poems. These interests have kept me on the right track.

7) Move base at least once in your lifetime.

Being a international student, I had to move in and out of my dorms, then eventually to my first apartment, and my second. There is something therapeutic about packing everything you own and moving it yourself from one place to another. Somewhere between driving the U-Haul truck and feeling new muscles develop, I learned the value of having just as much as I need.

8) Grow through diversity.

Some of the most interesting conversations I’ve had have been with people least like me. Usually food and drinks are a great way to celebrate diversity. Sitting in a beer garden sipping Kolsch or eating out of a Korean hot pot, I learned that the world was vastly different than my perspective let me see. Customs and traditions vary, geographical conditions vary, socio-economics vary from one place to another. One of the biggest lessons has been that everyone has a struggle they are fighting, remarkably different to our own. These interactions have made me patient, understanding and open. I have also learned that you truly can see the world through the eyes of a friend.

9) Love someone who loves you for the same reasons you love yourself.

Society has molded us into believing love is about our significant other. That it is about finding the elusive “one”. But they’ve got this all wrong. It isn’t really about the other person at all. Its about you and how you feel when you’re in love. I realized, given this new perspective, that I love myself for a multitude of different reasons. These reasons shape the way I see myself and give me a better understanding of who I am. As close my partner gets to loving me for me, the happier we will be.

10) Reflection is key.

Reflection is simple. It is the act of subtly absorbing, reliving and categorizing the events of ones day or week. There is nothing more amazing than life itself. Unless we give ourselves the opportunity to really take it in, enjoy it, learn and grow from it; we haven’t done it justice.

11) Be open to change.

Everything around is constantly evolving. Internally too we change everyday. Aversion to changing circumstances or opinions will hold us back. I always look at myself as “under construction”. This way I’m striving everyday to be a better version of me.