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Speak now or forever hold your peace.
If you’ve got something to say that you feel is important, speak up. When it’s all said and done, you’re more likely to regret keeping mum than you are for speaking your piece. -
Don’t carry credit card balances.
Better to have $0 in your bank account and $0 on your credit cards than to have $5000 in the bank and $5000 on your credit cards… though best of all is to have $5000 in the bank account and $0 on your card.
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You should never have to wonder if you’re in love.
Trust me, if you’re asking yourself whether or not you’re in love… you’re not. When it’s the real deal, it’ll be as simple and automatic as knowing how to breathe and you’ll wonder why you ever mistook anything else for it.
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In any remotely competitive endeavor (boxing, poker, dating), aggression is rewarded. With only a handful of exceptions, a passive, reactive strategy gets crushed.
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When giving gifts, tend to avoid giving something that relates to the recipient’s area of expertise. For example, if your friend is a Civil War buff, don’t get him some new Civil War history that got a good review in the paper. Your friend knows more about it than you do, and if he wants it he’ll get it for himself. The quintessential example of this behavior is an aunt or grandparent trying to buy a video game for a kid. Just give the child cash, he knows what game he wants better than anyone else.
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Exercise is a habit, not a random occurrence. You only have to force yourself for a while.
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Pay attention to what people do rather than what they say. Even if they believe what they say, we’re all self-deceivers.
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On the same tack, try to live honestly. Introspect, figure out what you really want and what you’re really after. It’s hard to know yourself, but it’s important to try.
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I’m through with love.
I’m 54, so between 44-yrs-old & 54, I’ve learned:
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Your teenagers will eventually grow up & the angst will mellow.
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Grandchildren are a lot more fun than children.
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Even if your job is downsized, you’ve got resources. A job you would have turned down twenty years ago looks good. Not only that, but the pay is (relatively) good, and some of your old coworkers work there.
May I add a 4th? WOOH00…You’ve proved you’re a survivor! You rock!
Love, Phil
Just have one to add, but it’s a big one to me.
I never knew marriage could be fun. What a revelation!
No children here, but I love my niece (age 7) and nephew (age 10). They’re the perfect age - old enough to talk to, but not into the Angsty Period yet. I get to babysit them, break minor rules (they tend to get to bed later than requested), sugar them up and go home. Leaving sister and BIL to deal with the aftermath. 
I’m only 21, so, there’s a lot. But I guess these would be the top three:
- Once you pay your rent and phone bill, set aside enough money to get to and from work, and buy your groceries, your paycheck is a lot smaller. Yes, it sucks. Get over it.
- Chances are your parents do love you and are not as stupid and out of touch with reality as you thought. Sometimes, they’re even right.
- If things suck: welcome to being human. Sometimes they do. Find your next move that will help things suck less. It might scare the crap out of you to take that move, but you already know what the alternative is like.
- I’m good enough.
- I’m smart enough.
- Doggone it people like me!
*Only a little bit tongue in cheek.
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It is how it is, accept it and deal with it. You aren’t going to change it.
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(to steal from Discworld) There is no justice, there is just us. There is no all-overseeing “they”. Everyone is winging it like you are, just some are more charismatic about it.
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Love may get you through, but only for awhile. Eventually, you’re going to need to chase your dreams.
Men- listen to me very carefully:
Women vent. When they do so, they are not looking for advice .Just listen, make sympathatic noises,and agree with her about it.
Life is Good.
Karma is for real.
Listen, we know you’re a member of several twelve-step programs, but you’re not a licensed therapist.
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If it hasn’t been “home” for the last ten years, it’s not going to be “home” now, just because they need you.
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You can not care for others until you’ve taken care of yourself.
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To say “it’s not my problem, ommmmmmm”
Some things I learned more than ten years ago:
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Anybody asking for more than your best is a fuckwit. Nobody can ask for more than your best, not even you.
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“Cosas más raras veredes, Sancho amigo” (“stranger things thee shalt see, friend Sancho” - it’s from El Quijote). There is always something weirder somewhere.
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Stone beats scissors, scissors beat paper, paper beats stone, reality kicks the crap out of imagination.
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Many folks out there haven’t understood the most basic things about their own profession. For example, scientists who claim that the results of an experiment are “impossible” when they don’t match their theory; evidently these guys never understood #6.
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When it comes to bones and joints, DO’s are ten thousand times better than MDs.
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A BA in history is more useless than a BA in art.
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The opinions of friends, relatives, co-workers are wrong, useless, and to be avoided.
- In any given situation, the only person you can change is yourself.
- Words are meaningless. Actions matter more.
- (learned on this very message board). Know exactly what you want. Say clearly what you want. And be willing to walk if you don’t get it.
“Love is all you need to know and all you need to know is love is all you need…
to know.”
“This world has only one sweet moment set aside for us; who wants to live forever?”
“And one day we will die and our ashes will fly from the aeroplane over the sea, but for now we are young let us lay in the sun and count every beautiful thing we can see…can’t believe how strange it is to be anything at all.”
Bah who am I kidding? I haven’t learned jack in the past decade, I just wanted a chance to share some cool lyrics.