# What’s your best serious life advice right now? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 12, 2025, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218 "2025-02-12T05:31:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218/21 "2025-02-12T16:44:02Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > If they don’t, also great. It’s “great” to watch someone you care about (per hypothetical) walk into a meat grinder? > [@TruCelt](#): > > I don’t think “normal” is coming back any time soon. Well, _something_ is gonna be normal, by definition. That’s all I was saying. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218/22 "2025-02-12T16:47:27Z")
Go for it! You may never get another chance. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218/23 "2025-02-12T16:48:28Z")
What if “it” is having kids? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218/24 "2025-02-12T16:49:29Z")
I’d recommend against that particular ‘it’. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218/25 "2025-02-12T17:02:57Z")
My advice would be: “At any given moment, life gives you few advantages. Make sure to exploit each absolutely to the max, because it’s all you’ve got.” ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218/26 "2025-02-12T17:03:49Z")
Most of this (not all, but most) is “right now” advice for surviving our tumultuous times. And that’s fine and valid and useful. I’ma step back and offer my best “always” advice, applicable in good times and bad. To wit: Regret is almost always a waste of energy. Live your life so you don’t need it. What does this mean? Hindsight is 20-20, as they say. You look back at past choices, with the benefit of knowledge you have now but didn’t have then, and you wish you’d made different choices, and it eats you up inside. Fuck that noise. Waste of energy. Be mindful, right now. Make the best choice you can, right now, with the information available to you, right now. Maybe it works out. Maybe it doesn’t. You can’t know. You can’t foresee all eventualities. All you can do is make your best, most thoughtful choice, right now. And then live with it. If it doesn’t work out, then look back and consider whether you really did make the best choice you could, with the information you had then. If you did, then that’s it. There’s no regret to be found. Move on. The only regret that’s valid is recognizing that you made a bad choice _and should have known it at the time._ You were lazy, you weren’t thinking, you were impulsive, whatever. _That,_ you can regret. Because it’s under your control, and you can fix it and learn how to make a better choice. But regret for things that are out of your hands? Bullshit. Don’t waste your time. That’s my advice. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218/27 "2025-02-12T17:35:21Z")
Huh. Three of my nieces just recently announced they are pregnant. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218/28 "2025-02-12T17:48:24Z")
Then you apparently should advise them to abort, judging some of the replies here so far. (And whatever reaction anyone reading this might have had, and why, is precisely why I asked this question to begin with.) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218/29 "2025-02-12T19:45:48Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The vast vast majority of middle-aged Germans in 1935 were still alive and plugging along in 1946. And they lived through something far more horrific than we will. First the rise of Nazis, then the Allies defeating the Nazis. Neither of those were fun to ride through, but the vast majority came out the other side alive, if a little battered. > > Your odds are better than theirs were. No, they are much worse; the Nazis didn’t have nuclear weapons. There aren’t going to _be_ any Allies to overthrow the fascists. They can just keep killing, enslaving and torturing as they please until their incompetence brings the system down, then burn what’s left of the world out of spite. Hitler by all accounts wanted to destroy Germany and as much of Europe as possible as a final act of spite when Germany lost; he just didn’t have the power. The American fascists _do_ have that kind of power. And many are literally looking forwards to the Apocalypse. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218/30 "2025-02-12T20:44:32Z")
Noted. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218/31 "2025-02-12T21:33:30Z")
Wear sunscreen [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/sTJ7AzBIJoI/hqdefault.jpg "Baz Luhrmann - Everybody's Free To Wear Sunscreen") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI) ---
**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218/32 "2025-02-13T00:57:05Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > > [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > > > I would tell them to relax, and take a breather. > > Same here. Advising someone to move to another country or leaving the city to take up farming is a quick way of trading one set of irritations for a different set of unnecessary major life disruptions. Unless you already have family and a lot of connections in another country, or the skills and know-how of farming, you’ll be in for even _more_ stress and likely to fail. > > My advice is to go on a news diet. Disconnect from toxic national news - no reading online, and no evening news. Watch and read your local news only if you must, and in small amounts. You’ll get enuf national news there. Don’t let _them_ live rent-free in your head by exposing yourself to the toxic craziness, and don’t let them manipulate you into a state of constant outrage every day for the next X years. Stop participating in online circle-jerks in social media about how awful things are now. Put the smart phone down and stop doomscrolling. Push back from the keyboard. Go outside. Read books. Walk the dog. Bake a pie. > > You want to make an impact in the world? Focus your energy on making your local community better - that’s where you can actually make a difference in your life and that of others I second this. Re-bloody-lax. Turn off the news. Put down the paper. Touch grass. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218/33 "2025-02-13T01:19:11Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Open up the [Vermont Country Store catalog](https://www.vermontcountrystore.com/) and strategize over some of the Amish tools for garden, kitchen, and laundry. Have you got them confused with [Lehman’s](https://www.lehmans.com/)? Not that Vermont Country doesn’t have some neat stuff, some of which might well be useful; but I wouldn’t really think of them for a serious survival tools selection. Or even a serious basic homesteading tools selection. I think my advice is: if at all possible, make friends with your neighbors. You’re likely going to need them. (Yes, I know that with some people it isn’t possible.) Oh yes, and presuming you get a chance: vote. On all levels. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > The choice is actually between [head in sand and bad things happen but you mostly don’t notice] OR [watch all the news and your being informed and caring makes zero difference in which bad things happen and meanwhile you’re depressed, scared, and perhaps suicidal]. Nope. The choice is to believe there are only those two choices, or to find others. You can select what news sources to watch and how often, so you don’t render yourself useless. You can select some specific area in which you stand a chance of being useful, and do that. There’s no way that’ll fix everything, true; but there is no one way that’ll fix everything. If things are going to work out OK for most people, or for many people, or even for some people, it’s going to be the result of a whole lot of different people doing a whole lot of different things. Most of them small things. But things that they did not give up on and go hide under the bed instead, hoping that Somebody Else™ would do everything. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > The vast vast majority of middle-aged Germans in 1935 were still alive and plugging along in 1946. And they lived through something far more horrific than we will. First the rise of Nazis, then the Allies defeating the Nazis. Neither of those were fun to ride through, but the vast majority came out the other side alive, if a little battered. > > Your odds are better than theirs were. Or not. My father’s family had some 45 people killed. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218/34 "2025-02-13T01:29:43Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I would tell them to relax, and take a breather. > > People are overreacting. The world is not going to end. The U.S. is not going to end. Eventually “the other side” will assume power. That’s the way it has been for hundreds of years. How about some advice from people who survived this the last time? **Ellie Wiesel:** - “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference”. - “Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies”. - “Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil”. - “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim”. - “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest”. - “There are victories of the soul and spirit. Sometimes, even if you lose, you win”. **Miep Gies:** - “If not for the apathy of people not just in Germany and Austria but everywhere—basically decent people, no doubt—the horrible slaughter could never have assumed the proportions it did”. - “I don’t like being called a hero because no one should ever think you have to be special to help others”. - “But even an ordinary secretary or a housewife or a teenager can, within their own small ways, turn on a small light in a dark room”. - “My story is a story of very ordinary people during extraordinarily terrible times” **Edith Carter (Auschwitz Survivor):** Everybody, every human being has the obligation to contribute somehow to this world. **Walter Kase:** When you see injustice happening, stand up! **Edmund Burke:** The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. ---
**Author:** ![natureboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@natureboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/natureboy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218/35 "2025-02-13T01:32:13Z")
Good post - was going to post something similar. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218/36 "2025-02-13T01:38:58Z")
Do what good you can. There’s a lot that needs fixing in this world, and most of it, you can’t fix. But do what you can. Help a few friends and neighbors who need it. Make your little corner of the world better. And if everyone did that, we would fix the big problems. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218/37 "2025-02-13T01:47:23Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > [@LSLGuy](#): > > > > The vast vast majority of middle-aged Germans in 1935 were still alive and plugging along in 1946. And they lived through something far more horrific than we will. First the rise of Nazis, then the Allies defeating the Nazis. Neither of those were fun to ride through, but the vast majority came out the other side alive, if a little battered. > > > > Your odds are better than theirs were. > > Or not. My father’s family had some 45 people killed. I believe I know @LSLGuy well enough to assume the _intent_ is that we not panic over the risk. But like @thorny_locust, most of the branches of my father’s family (mother’s to a lesser extent) that were in Germany and Poland are just _gone_. My great-grandparents got out of Europe right after WWI. The rest of the branches? Well. They apparently didn’t leave, or lacked the means until it was too late. NOW again, I’m Jewish (secular) - I’ve lived my whole life with that as part of my cultural background. And I’m not evacuating, because other than Israel (frying pan / fire situation) most nations aren’t interested in two late middle aged persons without great wealth. Not to mention my parents, and my wife’s parents are moving into a very fragile age, with limited support (albeit some financial stability). My heartfelt, serious advice: stay informed, but don’t doomscroll. Keep yourself healthy as possible - exercise, cut bad habits, avoid excessive stress, and be careful of excess self-medication. Help others where you can, but prepare for the worse. Having _reasonable_ stockpiles to meet your basic needs is probably a good idea (several weeks) - having more will make you a target and likely strain your finances and storage to minimal aid. IF ( **huge** if) you have the mindset, and have or get the training, AND (considering the OP) aren’t a risk for self-harm, consider buying a reasonably priced firearm, ammunition, and practice with it. NO, you cannot and will not stop the military, or even government sanctioned militias, but it may become useful if the absolute worst comes to worst, or if you’re an isolated known blue factor in a red area. TBH though, the circumstances of the OP mean my concerns about self-harm largely override the small possibility that having the option will help in any way. ETA - yet another qualification to the last point. If you have kids in the household, I _personally_ wouldn’t keep a firearm in the house, as I’ve said in a few other threads. Too much curiosity, and even with best efforts, it’s too easy to circumvent most private household firearm security options. Others can disagree, but we’re already talking about risk factors, and this would be one too many for me. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218/38 "2025-02-13T01:52:03Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > IF ( **huge** if) you have the mindset, and have or get the training, AND (considering the OP) aren’t a risk for self-harm, consider buying a reasonably priced firearm, ammunition, and practice with it. NO, you cannot and will not stop the military, or even government sanctioned militias, but it may become useful if the absolute worst comes to worst, or if you’re an isolated known blue factor in a red area. TBH though, the circumstances of the OP mean my concerns about self-harm largely override the small possibility that having the option will help in any way. I have been thinking about buying a new gun. I sold mine a few years back. But I am glad you posted this because I am feeling increasingly despondent lately. I really don’t want to take the risk of something happening however small that is. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218/39 "2025-02-13T01:59:47Z")
Then I’m glad I posted it. Seriously, having a firearm in the household is always a risk, and more so at such stressful times as these. It’s a huge risk and responsibility, and I think well of those who realize that both/either are more than they can safely handle. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218/40 "2025-02-13T03:05:56Z")
I’m not sure how I would recommend doing this, however, I would suggest getting an objective opinion on one’s own mental health, so that you could try to address it as appropriate. I say this as a guy who found out that he was high functioning autistic at age 64, as well as subject to depression. I’m not suggesting that everyone has some sort of mental health issue, but being the best you can be, mental health-wise, is an invaluable gift. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-best-serious-life-advice-right-now/1014218.md?page=3)