MY GOALS

Dear Lourdes,

My name is Mar, I'm seventeen years old, and I'm studying 2^nd batxillerat in Castelló d'Empúries. In this mail I'm supposed to talk about my goals but this is actually a bit difficult for me. Focusing in short-term goals it's easier, for example one of my goals is to finish the Treball de Recerca, be proud of the final result and of course, get a good mark. Another one is to finish this school year with the same or even better results than I had last year. In each one of these there are possible challenges that I can find on the way, such as lack of time because of too much work, difficulties in the process of edition of my practical part of the project, that doesn't allow me to get the result I wanted, or other kind of challenges. To overcome them I should organize myself better with the time, to put effort on those things and also try to find other alternatives when I can't get what I wanted. In these cases, what's most important is that I work hard, even though teachers or my TDR tutor can help me to stay on track.

When it comes to long-term goals, it's more difficult. I can't really think about something concrete that I want to achieve. I don't really know what university degree I want to get and what I want to work as when I finish. I guess I could say my goals are to study a degree I like and to have a job I like, but I can't specify more. In this case, what I need to do is to have good marks in batxillerat and in Selectivitat in order to be able to choose a degree I like. But apart from that, I don't have in mind any other concrete goals. I would say may main goal in life is to be happy. I know it may sound so hipster, but in my opinion it's the most important thing in life. You will have to face different challenges, but I guess that to be able to overcome them you have to try to take advantadge of the good and bad situations, and to try to concentrate on the good things you have. You can try to achieve as many goals as you want, and you will succed in some of them and fail in others, but if at the end, you are happy with your life, I think it's more than enough.

"And you won't necessarily succeed at everything. That's okay."

I would like to comment this sentence because I agree with it. I think that a lot of times when we fail at something, we tend to think that we're not good at it, that we will never get it and that it's not worth trying again. And we aren't the only ones who think this. We all tend to think this about other people, and this can be even worse. If you fail once or twice, and have a bunch of people by your side telling you to stop trying because it's not your thing, you will probably stop trying and you will never get it. That's why it's important to keep in mind that it doesn't matter if we fail a hundred times, you never know if at the hundred and one try you will achieve it, so if it's something that you want, you should fight for it.

I look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes,
Mar

TED TALK: WHY 30 IS NOT THE NEW 20?

In this talk, the psychologist Meg Jay talks about the 20s decade and goes against the popular belief that the "30s are the new 20s".

Nowadays things like marriage, having kids or finish your degree and start working happen later than it did years ago. Some time ago, people in their 20s did all those things and everything happened earlier in life, but nowadays people tend to settle down and in their 30s. Because of this, some people sees the 20s decade as some throwaway decade, in which the things you do don't have to be necessarily important or relevant for your future life. That's why they believe it's okay to, for example, according to Meg Jay's thoughts before, date any guy or sleep with whoever you want, even if they're not good for you, just because you know that, as it is happening in your 20s, it won't be relevant in your life.

In this talk, Meg tries to make the people see that your 20s are still an important decade, in fact, as she says, those years are the key years in the development of the adult version of a person and the things that normally happen in the 20s decade are the ones that have the most impact on us. Through examples of two of her twentysomething girl patients, Alex and Emma, she explains the significance of the 20s and the importance of making right decisions during these years. Jay says that all those life events happening later, shouldn't stop you from start planning and making important decisions in the 20s decade, and she stands out the importance of not living these years like a irrelevant period of time, because then, when you reach the 30s, you will feel pressured and in a hurry to start settling down, and you will not make the decisions sensibly.

After thinking about what Meg Jay says in this talk, I can say I agree with what she says, but with some touches to clarify. I think she's right when she says that we mustn't flee from all the important decisions during our 20s, because as she says, then we'll feel pressured and we won't think mindfully the decisions we make in our 30s. But I don't think the 20s should be a "30s preparing decade". We shouldn't spend all those years thinking about the future and planning everything for our 30s. It's okay to take advantadge of this events delay in life, and see the 20s as a period of time to form yourself, to have fun, to try new things and to make mistakes and learn from them. But always thinking a little bit about the future, to make sure we enjoy the next different period of our lifes, the 30s.

VOCABULARY:

Twentysomethings: people who is between 20 and 30 years old.

Kick the can down the road: to defer conclusive action with a short-term solution.

Growth spurt: it is a sudden growth.

Arsonist: someone who sets property on fire.

TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/meg_jay_why_30_is_not_the_new_20#t-26167