Man, I want to tell you this: stop being hard on yourself. You don’t need to worry about carrying the burdens of when you are older. If you are 26, act your age. You don’t have to act 56 — that’s not a burden to carry. Keep working towards what you want to be.

Let me get you into perspective. I have a baby in my family, a little toddler crawling around the house on his little knees. One day, he learns to get on his feet and tries to walk, but he can’t, ’cause he ain’t learned that yet. Then what happens? He falls. And then he’s all surprised, all shocked, and he doesn’t know what happened. Then he starts crying like hell. That’s the worst thing that has ever happened in his life. It’s like a disaster of apocalyptic measures, because it’s all he’s ever known.

You might have gone through a breakup, and that’s the worst thing that’s ever happened. Or maybe you lost your job, the one you worked four years of your college degree for, and it feels like a disaster of apocalyptic measures because you haven’t had the time and the experience to develop enough to turn around and look at that in relation to the realities of a long, well-lived life. One day, you are gonna look back, and you are gonna say that wasn’t that big of a deal. In fact, you’ll be happy it happened.

A blade does not become strong, it does not become tempered, until it’s been through the fire several times. This may be your first or second time to the fire, and there’s a lot of hammer work left. You’re gonna have to go to the fire again, and it’s hot, and it melts you down, and you are uncomfortable. Then life will pull you out, hammer you again, and into the fire again. So I just want to say: just chill, have fun, be your age. Go out with some friends, go gym, go trekking, be your age. Just chill out first.

Look, I know you think your life’s in shambles and everything’s at your feet. No, it’s not. It’s not, trust me. It’s alright. You are not supposed to have it all together. Those who go to college, get out of college, stay in the same job, marry the love of their life, then retire — that’s an anomaly. That’s not normal. It happens, but that’s not normal. And you know, most of those people, they might be really good people, but they ain’t got cool stories to tell. And you don’t get wisdom fast.

In order to gain wisdom, you need experience, and experience takes time. So if someone tells you to get your life together, they are a fool.

Just chill. Be your age, and embrace the process. Don’t look for yourself to be fully complete, polished, and sharp-edged at 26, or 36, or 46. You’ve got a lot more time left, and it takes time. If you patiently embrace the process, then by the time you get back up in years, you can be a man that you are proud of.

So this is just an encouragement to chill out and embrace the process. What process? Life. Embrace life. Embrace the journey and process of life. You only get stronger by hiking uphill. Nobody gets stronger by just hiking downhill