"get married, have a kid and raise a family." Very much worth doing, but for itself, rather than as a part of one's education.
Sure you do, but this seems a little redundant. Your have your whole life to do any of the suggestions that might be raised unless it involves checking out certain endangered species or something :-)
There are a lot of fish in the sea... people are often just too afraid to take the plunge.
"Don't make someone a priority if they only make you an option"
Wisdom comes with experiences. The right ones. Not spending all days in the cubicle. Or staring at the computer screen.
Write down (in great detail) every single childhood dream that you can remember. ANYTHING in life that you have dreamed of doing. WRITE WRITE AND WRITE until your hand falls off.
From there organize these "dreams" into goals of what you can do now and what you can aim for in the future.
I did this on January 1st this year, and so far this has been the greatest year of my life. Trust me, always side with your heart. Your childhood fantasies represent the real you.
Since completing this exercise I have learned how to scuba dive (dream of swimming with fish), sky dive (dream of flying), surf (love surfing!), learned "pick up" from a master (always wanted to have women in my life), in the process of learning how to code and start my own startup (my childhood dream wasn't to be an astronaut or fire fighter, I wanted to be an inventor!).
Could you please elaborate on this? Since graduating college, this is difficult to me.
Do you listen to music? Ever wondered how guitarists play the guitar? Seems like fun? Take a guitar class. Who knows.. If you get good at it, you might find some like minded musicians and form a band.
Do you think outdoor activities would be fun? Try hiking, camping, travel, etc.
Have you ever wondered how much fun it would be to dance, but have never tried it because you don't want to embarrass yourself? Take a dancing class. Hit the clubs!
Basically, you have the entire world at your disposal! You are very lucky to have enough time to yourself to try new things.
honestly, this is so personal and subjective all you can really do is try a lot of different things
maybe you want to be comfortable, "happy", or "make a difference"
as long as you reach the point where you feel truly satisfied and truly happy with what you are doing, it probably doesn't matter what you're doing (unless you hurt others, I suppose, lol)
I don't think that the question should be so much "how to live life" or "take a risk", it should be more about how you can be satisfied about who you are, what you do, on a daily basis because you've found a place/position in this world to call your own
of course most of us will have a hard time figuring this out and actually finding where we can be happy is a constant search
Highly recommended book to read: Life on Purpose, Brad Swift
Chat to people you meet, have an affair or three, learn to paint, learn a musical instrument or ten, sing in public, go to the galleries, go to the opera, concerts. TRAVEL and do all of the above.
"Ask HN: Cool Things You've Done (Brag Thread)" http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1200959
I post on the internet to avoid having to actually do things, just like you are now.
How can I take the plunge into a non calculated, risky maneuver of experience to gain wisdom over knowledge.
Not by asking an internet community to suggest things you can read about and plan to one day do.
Why do you need an exciting life oh wait you answered that, because you're afraid nobody will love you if you're boring. Now you're trying to live a life you don't particularly desire but feel socially pressured into living so you're avoiding doing so by asking instead of doing.
Let's face it, if this was a real desire for excitement instead of a desire to seem exciting, you wouldn't be asking us "how do I live an exciting life", you'd be asking yourself "how do I want to feel? Excited? OK, what can I do that looks exciting and enjoyable? Hot air ballooning? Where can I get a flight around here? How much is it? How long until I can afford that? When can I book it? This is going to be so cool! I can't wait!"
</armchair psychoanalysis>