What I Learned About Life, Work, and Purpose on 4 Continents

In the past six months, I've had the chance to spend time across four different continents. I have spent time in Nigeria, London, U.S, and India. It wasn't really planned, it just worked out that way through a mix of work, travel, and spending time with friends and family. What really stood out to me wasn't just the places, but the people I spent time with, especially those around my age, and how they're thinking about life and work right now.

Something I noticed in every place I visited is that people in their 20s, like me, are often thinking about the same kinds of things. I'm part of Gen Z, and it's a very different time to be figuring out your life. There are more options than ever, which is exciting but also overwhelming. Most of the people I met were still figuring things out, and that seems to be the norm, not the exception.

It also feels like there's no one definition of success anymore. In my parents' generation, the path was usually clearer: study, get a job, start a family. But now, what a "good" life or career looks like varies a lot more. That can be confusing, but it also means people are making choices that feel more personal.

I saw this in the choices my friends and family have made. A friend in London had a steady job but decided to move to the U.S. for grad school because she wanted a change. Another friend in the U.S. left a big tech company to join a startup in Singapore working on aviation, which she's always been interested in. My cousins, after finishing their degrees at MIT and Carnegie Mellon, chose to start something of their own instead of joining large companies. My brother lived in Japan for four years, then went back to school for an MBA and is now working on mental health in India, something he is very passionate about. One friend started in accounting and is now switching to law because it feels like a better fit. Another is choosing to pause his promotion at his tech job to study computer vision, something he's been curious about for a while. I also have friends who are focused on growing in their current roles because they enjoy the work and want to keep going in that direction.

What I've taken from this is that people are choosing paths that make sense to them, even if they don't look like the typical route. There's less pressure now to follow one fixed way of doing things, and more openness to try, change, and figure things out as you go. But a common factor is that getting a world-class education is still a big priority for many of us, not just for the degree itself but for the foundation it gives us to explore different directions. Even when our goals vary, there's a shared belief that strong learning opens up more meaningful choices.

Mental health came up in a lot of conversations too. It's something people are more open about now, which is a big shift. In every country I visited, people talked honestly about feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or unsure. Impostor syndrome came up a lot, even among people doing "really well". But it was reassuring to see that these conversations are becoming more normal. There's still a long way to go, but the stigma is definitely less than it used to be. Some friends also mentioned how mental health challenges can feel even heavier when combined with things like student loans, financial pressure, or needing to support family members. It's not always easy to take a step back or prioritize self-care when responsibilities are real and constant. But even then, people are trying to create a space for themselves and to be kinder to themselves.

I also noticed that a lot of people are trying to live more intentionally. Whether it's getting enough sleep, eating better, exercising, or setting boundaries with work, there's a growing awareness that health isn't just physical, it's everything. Everyone's figuring it out in their own way, but the effort to take care of ourselves is there.

Since I work in eye care, I also made time to visit clinics in each country. Each one had something different to offer, from the preventive approach I saw in the UK to the community care model in Nigeria, efficient systems in India, and tech-driven setups in the U.S. I've already started bringing some of those ideas into EyeQ, and there's still a lot to learn.

Traveling like this showed me how different people's environments can be, culturally, socially, economically, but also how much we all have in common. At the end of the day, a lot of us are asking similar questions: What do I want to do? Am I doing enough? What matters to me?

Something else that stuck with me came from my brother's graduation at Kellogg this June. Professor Meghan Busse said, "The value of anything is the amount of your true self you invest in it. Not just effort, but heart. It's what you're willing to make room for, to sacrifice for, even if you're not sure it will work. The things you're willing to risk loss and sorrow for, those are the things that will matter most."

That really made sense to me, especially after these past few months. I saw so many people making decisions that weren't easy, changing careers, starting over, or building something from scratch, but doing it because it felt real to them. We're not just trying to chase what looks good on paper anymore. We're trying to do things that feel right, even if there's risk involved.

For me, that means working to expand access to the best possible eye care across Africa and India, and also volunteering to support mental health advocacy, something I care more about with each passing year. That's where I want to put my time and energy, and I'll do whatever it takes to build it. Because if there's one thing Gen Z across the world doesn't lack, it's persistence. We show up, we adapt, and we keep going until it's real.

What is something you invest your true self in?