Whenever I’m stumped on a life decision, I talk it out to death. It’s insufferable. I feel like I’ve spent my whole life sniffing out the wisdom of others. That being said, it’s not always foolproof. Not all advice is salient. The trick to wading through the litany of well-intentioned guidance is parsing the useful from the useless. It’s a skill worth honing; my critical eye has enabled me to benefit from a lot of good advice. People are really smart if you’re willing to listen!
Every time I’ve received an exceptionally useful nugget over the course of my 27 years, I’ve written it down in a little notebook. Most the pages remain empty — I’m highly selective — but that’s served me well, as each is more helpful than the last. Read on to find out what they are and…who knows? They may just change your life, too.
“Just relax!”
When I’m anxious or stressed, nothing helps me more than someone telling me, point blank, to unfeel my emotions. I return to this particular gem whenever I feel the opposite of relaxed. It’s so simple, isn’t it? If you want to feel good, just stop feeling the bad feelings. What a beautiful sentiment.
“Follow your dreams!”
This one has always been a real home run for me, execution-wise. It’s particularly constructive when it comes from a really rich and successful 1%er. Simply internalizing the cold, hard truth that I should follow my dreams is actually more helpful than life tips grounded in reality. <3
“You’ll figure it out.”
It’s consistently life-changing for me to know that someone believes I will figure my problems out. Funny how that works, isn’t it? One person’s dismissive vote of confidence is usually all I need to sail right past the hard part of almost anything.
“Don’t sweat the small stuff.”
It’s useful when someone reminds me that all that’s standing between me and enlightenment is no longer being bothered by what’s bothering me. It’s so easy to solve issues if you don’t care about them in the first place — and I never realized that until I heard this genius line!
“When you know, you know!”
This one’s nothing short of groundbreaking. I could be in the toughest pickle of my entire fucking life and then someone will say this to me and I’ll stop dead in my tracks as the warmth of certainly envelopes my entire being and I blast off into the heavens screaming, “Everything’s fiiixxxxxxeeddd!”
“Everything happens for a reason. :)”
This is already tattooed on my lower back but I also want it engraved on my headstone. Should I accidentally drop my iPhone on the subway tracks or get bit by a rabid raccoon, I’d like everyone to whisper this in my ear every time they greet me. Thank you in advance. 🙂
That’s it for now — but I eagerly await the day I can expand this list of literal truth bombs. I hope this helped you in some small way. We need each other! What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten?
Illustrations by Maria Jia Ling Pitt.
