I'm 30; here's what I've learned

G'day, Internet! *Obnoxiously tips fedora*

Today, I've turned around the Sun 30 times. Technically, a bit more — but who knows when I became me? At what point in my mom's belly did I become conscious? Was I conscious before I turned around the Sun 3 times? I'm not sure! And it is a-OK not to be sure. I'm a millennial, and you fellow Gen-Z'ers probably don't care about what I have to say (the old man I am). However, let me shake my fist at the sky anyway.

Here are some things I've learned over the long time I've been here. I intended this to be one of these "things I wish I knew when I was 20" or "things I'd like to tell my 20yo self," but we all know that the list is stupidly short:

• Buy real estate.
• Get as much debt as possible and buy as many bitcoins as possible. Don't sell until it hits $60k for a bitcoin.

Now, here's what I really learned and something I now practice daily that I wish I started in my 20s.

• Question everything, no matter the authority of the source. Health-related, politics-related, lifestyle-related, anything. It is your life, and no one will ever live it for you. There are numerous cases when the majority is wrong, and you must follow the less traveled path.
• Nothing really matters. The world is an illusion. It might as well be a game, and you are one of the players. One's life is so insignificant that you're mainly akin to an ant than to a god. Now, be a good ant, not the wrong kind.
• If nothing really matters and the world is an illusion, then you decide what truly matters to you. Allow no one to choose for you. It is simpler said than done, and exercising your free will is more complicated than it sounds.
• You can't fathom true life philosophy while fighting for survival, except if you're as enlightened as a Buddhist monk. You probably aren't, so cover all the financial bases before philosophizing. Then, you can start thinking of the world as the illusion it is.
• Such posts always have the "take care of your body, do health checkups, do sports" advice. People never write, "Yeah, screw health, live your life to the fullest, drink, binge-eat, do drugs." Don't ignore this.
• People keep citing the "five balls metaphor." They do it for the reason of it being relatively close to reality. You're not here to work. Remember, nothing really matters. You're here to experience life and be a good ant.
• No one expects anything from you. You owe nothing to anyone. The world is an illusion of your mind — and only you can shape this illusion. You can become anything you want (within reasonable physical limits). Do what matters to you, no matter how screwed up or inexperienced your compass is. What is essential here is to exercise the muscle of following your own compass, not someone else's. Your compass will improve; other people's compasses will almost always show the wrong direction relative to you.
• Imagine if an ant exits the ant track, stops, and observes the anthill. No other ant would care about it; chances are, no ant would even look at it. The world would not end without you, and the world probably wouldn't notice if you stopped spinning the wheel. Observe the complexity of the human race from afar. Breath in. Breath out. You're the ant; you're out, you're observing.
• Different people have different ideals — that's how humans work. Find your path — or travel without a destination. It is OK to just be here. You're enough. You're OK, just the way you are already. Be present in the moment. Then, you can decide what you want to do — if anything at all. You'll probably want to do something but start with the position that you're already satisfied with everything just the way it is. Then, every improvement will bring you astronomically more happiness.
• Listen to the science. Never listen to interpretations of science. Go directly to the source material and the peer-reviewed studies. Always doubt any advice. Ignore the advice that isn't backed by sufficient science.
• Imagine that you will live forever. Now, imagine that you're dead already. What do you value? What would you do right now? There are no correct or wrong answers. There's only "Is that so?" Every moment of your life is precious, whether you live it fast or slow. You can be fast today and slow tomorrow — that is fine. You can and will change; accept it.
• Change takes time. Things take time. Compound benefits grow exponentially. First, they grow slowly. Soon, they accelerate. Then, the acceleration is uncontrollable — that's the moment when you win if you're playing to win.
• It is insanely difficult to think long-term. But you're here long-term, even if you're playing short-term now. Learn to think long-term. Exercise this muscle.
• Consistency is more important than effort. Doing something every day will get you results; doing something sometimes gets you nowhere.
• Read non-fiction books. Read fiction books. Listen to them. Exercise the muscle of devouring knowledge. It is a permissionless upgrade with every finished title. Never turn down an opportunity to learn.
• Say "Yes" to weird things. Say "Yes" to uneasy things. Say "Yes" to unsafe things, but don't be stupid. "Yes" to skinny-dipping in the ocean, but don't drive drunk or have unsafe sex with a rando. Don't do things that will make your life miserable without a way to undo it.
• The people you hang out with during your 20s will be the ones you're stuck in your 30s, and you won't make many new friends unless you try. Do whatever you want with this information.

I'd like to think I look like your cool uncle who allows you to drive his old Mercedes. You probably think of me as a pothead that did too much psychedelics with all this esoteric bullshit on "everything is an illusion" stuff. The fact is, most people live all their lives as ants working for the sake of the anthill. And that's OK — someone needs to do this stuff; our evolution and species survival dictate this way of living.

If you read so far, I want you to remember just one thing and one thing only: it's your life, it's your path, you decide what you do, what you want, and where you're headed. Execute control over your life by letting go. The world will keep spinning, and the sun will set and rise.

I'm not the wise guru to tell you what to do. You're that wise guru. You're reading this text in your head with a voice that is unique to you. Ha! You're aware of this now. I am an illusion in your head. This text is an illusion in your head. If I say, "I'm a time traveler from the distant future coming back to give you this wisdom," you'll believe me. Because I'm not Nikita anymore. I'm not this text, this article, or the funny gifs and memes above. I'm that little voice in your head that you will no longer be able to escape. I will always be with you because I'm you. The doubt, the little hesitation on your morning walk. "Is this all real or just an illusion?"

Now go live your life. Experience it. You're the voice. You're the illusion in your head. You're the ant.

Rise.