The Urgency of Mentors in Today’s World
I’ll Show You the Way | Utsah Pandey
“ When you reach your thirtieth decade on this planet, and you look back at all the years that have passed, you start to understand exactly what your predecessors meant when they said “Life is short.””
Time flies. As a matter of fact, time is flying right now as you read this. When you reach your third decade on this planet, and you look back at all the years that have passed, you start to understand exactly what your predecessors meant when they said “Life is short.” As a young woman in my mid thirties, I’m still trying to remember when my twenties ended—I can’t recall! And although life seems to get shorter as we get older, a lot of things happen in this short amount of time. Those special key moments that are captured with friends and family seem to help us slow things down and relax—take a minute to reminisce. But, once you get back to the hustle, bustle, and struggle of being a millennial in this world things start to move quickly once again.
In my short thirty years, I can honestly say the mentors I have chosen to be apart of my life have played the biggest role in my progression. I’ve been lucky enough to have several mentors in both school and life showing me the ropes. I truly believe without them I would be nowhere close to where I am today.
“I truly believe without them I would be nowhere close to where I am today.”
The topic in a lot of today’s conversations seem to be, “What happened to our youth?” or “When did they get led astray?” I think the answer to this would have to be the lack of mentors present in the lives of today’s young people. I know I was lucky to have access, at such a young age, to the people who would later become my mentors. I also know not everyone has these resources. However, you have to make it happen on your own! Whether it is your parents, an uncle, a former elementary school teacher or a co-worker—the first thing you have to do is choose them! You have to say to yourself, “This is the person that I want to guide me through this ever-changing world.” Of course you should choose wisely and know whom you’re choosing. But, once you do make a choice the road ahead gets way easier to navigate.
Without mentors, we have no guidance. Without mentors, we are looking at our contemporaries for leadership—and in actuality our contemporaries are just as lost as we are! Although it might not seem like that big of a deal, having mentors in life is a very serious matter.
“Without mentors, we have no guidance. Without mentors, we are looking at our contemporaries for leadership—and in actuality our contemporaries are just as lost as we are!”
So, if you’re reading this and you have an awesome mentor already, pick up the phone or write an email sending them a few kind words of gratitude—because they don’t have to be there.
On the other hand if you’re reading this and you’ve come to the realization that you don’t have a mentor it’s never too late to choose one. Just remember to choose wisely!