Inspired by this thread: sometimes people give you good advice for the wrong reason. I don’t just mean advice that you didn’t want at the time but have come to value; I mean advice that’s based on wrong assumptions but turns out to be sound anyway.
For example, I was at a dinner party when one of my parents’ friends said, “You need to learn how to make small talk…”
Which is true; I could probably make more friends and improve my career if I learned better ways to fill those uncomfortable silences. But she also gave a reason for her advice:
“You need to learn how to make small talk, if you ever plan on getting married.”
I guess that’s true too, but I’d already told this person that I like being single.
So, what’s the best advice someone has given you for all the wrong reasons?
when I was an impressionable young girl my mother told me, “In this world, a woman has to be either pretty or smart. You better be smart.” needless to say, I was wounded…but it turned out she was right.