They say that as you get older and learn more about how life works, your views change and you see things differently. People who go through a ‘life-changing’ event will often say that it changed the way they look at things now, or they understand things better. Now I don’t profess to be old and wise, I am fully aware that I’m young, and still have a lot left to learn ahead of me. But this excites me because, in the few decades that I have been around on this planet, I have learned to see things differently.

Privacy is something that was always important to me. I always respected other people’s privacy, never pried, and expected to be treated the same in return. I very much felt a need to keep my personal life to myself, and never share it with anyone. When I look back on this, I can see how lonely and isolating it was. And while I’m still working hard on not letting my first instincts get the better of me, I now understand the importance of sharing and opening up to people.

Getty Images/DigitalVision/Kathrin Ziegler

I have always been the person who behaved appropriately, followed the rules, and did the right thing. As a child, to act differently was seen to be naughty, and as I grew into an adult, I began to see things differently. Because as an adult, you’re not ‘naughty’, no one will shout at you. While it might be frowned upon if you’re late to a work meeting, life happens, and everyone understands that because we’re all human. I began to learn that while yes the rules are there for a reason, they’re not so rigid, sometimes they are flexible.

The future was something I always looked forward to. I’d plan what I wanted to do in 5, 10, even 30 years’ time. I was very work-focussed, I had a plan for my career and how I would progress from stage to stage. Sure, I had desires and dreams, but those would come later. In my early 20s, we had a family tragedy and everything changed. Suddenly life seemed short, and my priorities changed. I began pursuing some of my dreams and ignoring the previously planned timeline. I started seizing more opportunities and enjoying life more.