Via the eminent blogger, a list of things you wish you’d learned when younger. Quite a few items I find myself agreeing with:
Most of it doesn’t matter. So much of what I got excited about, anxious about, or wasted my time and energy on, turned out not to matter.
Trying to please other people is largely a futile activity. Everyone will be mad at you sometime. Most of the people you deal with will dislike, disparage, belittle, or ignore what you say or do most of the time. Besides, you can never really know what others do want, so a good deal of whatever you do in that regard will go to waste. Be comforted. Those who love you will probably love you regardless, and they are the ones whose opinions are worth caring about. The rest aren’t worth five minutes of thought between them.
Etc.
And the last one is oddly appropriate in the blog-connected world we inhabit.
The loudest noise in the world is the sound of people whining. Don’t add to it.
However, I don’t really agree that my life would have been better if I knew of these beforehand – I do not underestimate the human capacity of screwing up and making personal life miserable.
I liked that article too. And printed the last one out for the newbies… a going away present