there's no life advice. do whatever you want and suffer the consequences
if you are looking for advice of how to optimize yourself or outcomes, at some point you will realise you've wasted much of your life working for that optimisation and not actually doing the things you've wanted.
and if you do too much of the things you want, you might end up too fat, too unhealthy, broke etc.
there's no way around that, there's never perfect and optimal because your life isn't perene, but fatal.
also don't look at statistics, you might on average live up to 80+ or 90+, but you can also be the 'lucky' one to get cancer, or whatever sickness that might shorten your lifespan a lot. so don't over optimise, do the stuff you want, it's the most important thing. whatever silly thing it is.
my mother did everything she could to optimize, i've always envied how healthy she was(even more than me, 2 decades younger), she visited the doctor regularly, ate her greens and died of cancer young, when nobody known of our whole ancestry ever got cancer.
That's not really a good reason to neglect statistics and probabilities/studies/findings.
If you know that crossing a highway will make it likely for you to get killed, then you better not cross that highway.
If you know that smoking is detrimental to your health, you better not smoke etc.
I am sorry that your mother died, but you should not justify being reckless with your life with the death of a loved one. I know it is hard to think rationally when emotion is involved, but the point is statistics/studies etc. give you good directions for your life:
A study/finding is not meant to be absolute/100%, it is just "good advice" for you to follow that will most likely help to keep good health. So don't neglect a finding/study just b/c a small percentage had "bad luck".
i haven't said that you should snore cocaine all day and die. i've just said that it doesn't make sense to optimise every bit.
drink water, do some sports, visit your doctor etc. that will let you have plenty of time, but apply the pareto principle there or like I said, you'll end up wasting your whole life trying to have some edge over other people and such thing do not exist, as you'll die no matter what do you do.
Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think. Enjoy yourself, while you're still "in the pink". The years go by more quickly than you blink. Enjoy yourself. Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think.
This will be a different advice from what you expect, but be thankful for all things you have.
Stop worrying about being more productive and making a lot more money. I'm not saying you shouldn't think about this things, but don't let worries about those things consume you and become your whole life.
Understand that on average you are living better than kings and queens did thausend years ago or even 100 years ago. Got a fridge? well be thankful for that. Got heating, a bed, bath, clothes, food that you like? you are living the dreams of billions of people who can't have any of it. Just be thankful for things before you want to get more.
Hard to give advice without learning your life situation. In general though I’d advise you to focus on the areas you are really good at for personal wealth generation but also to take the areas you are bad at and work on those for personal growth and satisfaction. For example if you are a great programmer but bad in social situations you more programming will make you more money but working on end achieving improved social success will make you happier and provide more sense of growth.
I would give my 25 year old self the following advice:
In general: Try everything you want to try, keep moving and exploring, and do not be complacent and/or stagnant. Your 20s is meant for exploration while your 30s are meant for stabilisation.
There are some specific exceptions however:
1. Do not disregard your health. You won’t be able to explore as much and then stabilise later on if you’re weak and/or always sick.
2. Try to learn how to invest, at the very least in index funds. Compound interest is much more powerful when started early.
Learn perspectives on life, sets of values etc. of different people. See what sounds appealing to you and try implementing that. If, over time, you have problems with motivating yourself to follow that path or it somehow feels wrong otherwise, try analyzing what exactly is the nature of the problem and correct for that, or choose a different path entirely. Using this method, over time, you will discover your natural preferences and will be able to construct a life that agrees with you and feels right.
No, the one thing that you can never absolutely recover back is time, there have been miricale cures and people win the lottery, but no recorded events of someone getting to live two lives.
if you are looking for advice of how to optimize yourself or outcomes, at some point you will realise you've wasted much of your life working for that optimisation and not actually doing the things you've wanted.
and if you do too much of the things you want, you might end up too fat, too unhealthy, broke etc.
there's no way around that, there's never perfect and optimal because your life isn't perene, but fatal.
also don't look at statistics, you might on average live up to 80+ or 90+, but you can also be the 'lucky' one to get cancer, or whatever sickness that might shorten your lifespan a lot. so don't over optimise, do the stuff you want, it's the most important thing. whatever silly thing it is.
my mother did everything she could to optimize, i've always envied how healthy she was(even more than me, 2 decades younger), she visited the doctor regularly, ate her greens and died of cancer young, when nobody known of our whole ancestry ever got cancer.
tldr: do whatever you want