The best advice
Good advice is sometimes hard to find, but it can sometimes be good to share so that others benefit from your mistakes or triumphs
What is your best advice ? (on anything)
and why?
My best advice is to take every opportunity given to you ----because you never know where it will take you and what other fantastic opportunities you will find.
Comments
Just to follow up on last night on a similar kind of note.
Thing about routine is that if you're unhappy with it, there's usually little things you can do to change it. You probably won't be able to revolutionise it--that can sometimes be logistically impossible if you've got school/TAFE/uni or work or kids or whatever else--but there's little things you can change to make your life a little more pleasant. But even then, that's going to become your routine. Welcome to life, I guess.
It's never sad to talk about your problems. You know what's really sad? If in ten years from now, you're still suffering from the same petty stuff you are now because you refused to talk it through. That's what's sad. Some things you can never change, because stuff like disabilities and mental illnesses are managed, not beaten, but you can change the little things, and it's better to crusade against them than to hold grudges and do nothing.
And I know, it's difficult to face yourself. Nobody wants to admit their faults because nobody wants to have to deal with the ugliest parts of themselves. But trouble is it's quite often the ugly parts of yourself holding you back. But you have the power to change, but it's going to take a lot of work and a lot of effort and a lot of time.
That's part of the reason why it's important to consider the possibilities of other people's lives. I think John Green would put it something like, "Imagine other people complexly". And this is important, because even though your routine is boring and mundane and frustrating; some people's routines are more so at times. That's why it's important to be polite to the cashier, because little things can make or break someone's day.
It's hard, I know, and it's scary. But remember what I said before? We're all scared and confused in this life. Everyone. No exceptions. But I guess that's what bravery is--facing your fears.
Okay, I'm done for now. Someone else can have the soapbox now.
The big things about life are things nobody talks about. Everyone talks about how you have to get a job, and get your own place, and whatever else, but nobody really says anything about how tedious life is. They don't talk about how much time is just spent in this tedious routine of going to the supermarket and getting the same kind of stuff every week, and getting the same dead-eyed cashier each week.
And there's going to be times when this is going to be frustrating beyond belief. Sometimes, that frustration is going to drag on for weeks on a time. But here's the thing: you have a choice on what you're going to pay attention to. You have the option of choosing to consider other options.
Maybe that woman who's shouting at her kid isn't just doing it because he's acted up just a little. Maybe someone in her immediate circle has just contracted a disease, or died in a car accident, or some other terrible thing has happened. Maybe that person driving slow in the four wheel drive in the inner suburbs was in a car accident and their therapist has ordered them to buy that kind of vehicle because they're so scared of driving.
That doesn't mean any of this is particularly likely. But they are possibilities in life. And sometimes it's going to be difficult to consider these possibilities. It's going to be incredibly difficult. Sometimes it's going to be downright impossible to do this. And it's going to take a lot of effort to do this.
But the truth is everyone is just as scared and confused as you are. We're all scared and we're all confused and we're all trying to get through life as best as we can, one step at a time.
And that's the best advice I can give you.
Some of the best/most interesting advice I've encountered would be:
- The characteristics we don't like in others, are those that we don't like about ourselves
> Largely debatable but I thought that was interesting
- Read more
> Reading is awesome 
- Be happy 
>Cliched, yes, but no less true.
> I used to think that 'doing whatever it takes' was doing anything whether I liked it or not.
But really, what 'doing whatever it takes' is taking the risk to do whatever makes you happy.
A great idea for a thread, @JJR !
My best advice is actually not my own. I found it in a book called Wisdom that was published some years ago. It comes from the woman who designed the mini-skirt and goes, from memory, something like this:
'Take the risk. Always take the risk. It's terribly important that you take risks. Life will always give you another chance.'
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I think you've gotta take risks somnetimes. They won't always come off, but, even when they don't, you will get another chance and opportunity later.
This is the a piece of advice, which I try to live to:
Decide in your heart of hearts what really excites and challenges you, and start moving your life in that direction. Every decision you make, from what you eat to what you do with your time tonight, turns you into who you are tomorrow, and the day after that. Look at who you want to be, and start sculpting yourself into that person. You may not get exactly where you thought you'd be, but you will be doing things that suit you in a profession you believe in. Don't let life randomly kick you into the adult you don't want to become.
-Chris Hadfield
Spend at least a year living in a different country to the one you grew up in (and preferably go there alone).
You learn a lot of new things that are difficult to learn when you're still in your comfort zone. You learn:
- how to make friends outside the structure of school or work
- how to appreciate a culture different from your own
- how to adapt to different cultural/societal environments
- that there are better ways of doing things that just aren't possible in your own country
- that your way of doing things might be acceptable where you're from but is completely unacceptable elsewhere
- how the people around you strongly affect who you are, how you behave and what you think
- how to make the most of what's around you
- that no one cares about how you do things "back home"
- how to be a self-sufficient and independent individual
- …and lots, lots more!
My best advice is not to take any on face value. You should learn to think for yourself. Investigate things, ask questions, and answer them yourself. Learn to problem solve. Learn to watch your own life, and make your own decisions. Sure, you might get it wrong at first, but its liberating to know you are who you are because of what you did yourself.
My best advice is - Live your life and make your own choices because regardless of what people say or think you are the one in charge of your life and you can shape and change your direction in life.
