I feel it is an obligation for any older folk to pass wisdom to those not-in-the-know of things regarding life. Some people are born directionless and they get lost in their lives and before they know it, they’re knee-deep in debt, they’re in awful minimal-wage jobs, they make poor decisions regarding their love lives .etc
I have several and my more prominent one is;
- Know Your Numbers
This is a key and must-have piece of knowledge. You must know your numbers. How much you’ll earn a month, how much your expenses are, how much is in your bank account, interests and much more. I don’t care if you’ve hated math growing up, you will need to know this. Because going off on guesswork and estimations, only gets you so far before you slip up. Once you slip up financially, missing a payment, you will fall behind faster than you’ll get back ahead or break even. As someone said, everyone is one car repair or medical emergency away from being in poverty.
- Do not get kids in your teens and 20s
Your teenage and young adolescent years, are better spent figuring out who you are and what you want to achieve. Recklessly getting kids with someone who you thought you loved or poor planning are reasons people end up paying child support and having to go to family court and having to deal with custody battles for the rest of their lives. Supporting a kid is $250k PER child, that’s the average, moreso because of the economy. Is it really worth the few minutes of sex at all for that expense?
- Avoid Jail
Going to jail, over anything, is a bad setback to have in life. If you think finding a job is hard normally with the way the job market is, it’ll be twice that if you have a criminal record. That is just shit not a lot will be ignored.
You’ll lose time, you’re likely to lose any jobs you’ve had at the time of going to jail, you may polarize family and friends even. It’s just not worth it, regardless. The more times you end up in jail too, consider your life over.
- Thrift and Thrift Away!
Thrifting can be a dirty word to some who prefer to get things new, which I understand. But it is a money-saver in the long run. For example, my apartment is 85% of thrifted items and I have a hard time recalling anything I’ve spent more than $10 for, aside from select things I bought new because I wanted them new, like some appliances.
Just try not to be a hoarder if it can be helped.
I’ve spent my whole adulthood working in hospitals. They’re shitholes, every single last one of them. Do every single thing you can to never be in one.
Drink water, plain water. Eat whole grains and leafy vegetables. Treat red meat like a dessert (and if you’re morally opposed to meat, make sure you’re still getting all your essential proteins). Find a physical activity you enjoy and do it at least three times a week. Either join an organized religion or specifically curate a group of people you do a weekly activity with who will come check on you if you suddenly stop showing up. And while you’re at it pick a mindfulness activity that you either enjoy or that brings you peace (prayer qualifies but so can yoga or a lot of other things). Avoid nicotine and alcohol at all costs. Go easy on the weed, and avoid anything more interesting without guidance from either a medical professional or some kind of traditional expert on those substances. And if a competent doctor listens to your specific situation and tells you to do or not do something I’ve mentioned, listen to them instead of me.
Decide who you would want to speak for you on your death or near-deathbed. Choose people both trustworthy and level-headed who will put your wishes over their own emotions. Choose multiple people, because it’s not unlikely that any one person will be in the car wreck with you. Talk to those people about what you want to happen or not happen so they can best carry out your wishes. Sign some kind of legally binding paperwork that cements them as the decision maker, especially if your first choice is not the default the state would choose (parent, spouse, sibling, adult child, etc). You can write whatever you want then to do on the paper, but the chosen person will have the right to override it if they think you would want them to. So sign the paper but don’t forget to TALK to them about it.
And good luck because while this will give you the best odds, the universe might also just decide to fuck you in particular anyway.
Find a physical activity you enjoy and do it at least three times a week. Either join an organized religion or specifically curate a group of people you do a weekly activity with who will come check on you if you suddenly stop showing up.
I managed to get both these with sport teams. (At least in my area), the local sports competitions are actively looking for players, and if you have skills or enjoy a role others don’t, you can even just volunteer (instead of pay fees) in a few teams before joining one you like. And one foot in the door will likely get you invited to other teams and competitions when someone’s team needs a substitute player (or you can just ask, “Does anyone have a team that play on Thursday nights?”).
In my favorite team, I became de-facto captain of because I showed up most reliably and was the remaining member of the original team as people left and joined. One week I forgot to tell them I would be away for the match due to travel, and the next day I wake up to a couple of check-in messages just to make sure I haven’t vanished or had a bookshelf fall on me. And it’s a reassuring feeling to realize you’re part of a community that cares about each other.
I asked this same question to my older coworkers back when I was 20. The main answer I got was: travel, travel, travel! “Travel before you have kids.” “Travel before you start a long-term career.” “Travel before you buy a house.”
Naturally, being a Millennial, all three of those things became non-issues. 🙃
So let me give some advice for the ages instead, regardless of what the future may hold for you:
• Never stop learning
• It’s okay to not know what you want to do with life
• And, especially in a post-truth, AI-infested world, question everything!
Take the time to learn what logical fallacies are (at least the common ones.) You WILL encounter them, and knowing when you or someone else is using faulty logic can keep you from harm, whether it be from another person (like what we see in politics) or from yourself (like the “Sunk Cost Fallacy,” which might otherwise lead you to stick with bad jobs, bad relationships, and more.)
Tangentially, it’s okay to say, “I don’t know.” Nobody knows everything. Anyone who expects you to know any given thing (unless you’re known to have studied it, of course) isn’t someone worth the admiration of. People with realistic expectations will see you as genuine, and being genuine can carry you far.
I could probably think of more if given the time, but those are the most important things off the top of my head. I’m open to questions in the comments; I’ve lived quite a peculiar life, so I’ve got a range of experiences, from being a homeless vandweller, to being a pilot, to pivoting 90° to working with kids and making art. I’m more than happy to answer any questions that might help people out!
Older people? 30+? 💀
Be a doctor, in medical, electric, or plumbing. They’ll exist forever. Alternatively luck out and work 50 work from home jobs at the same time it’s all bullshit work and 99% meetings and very doable
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Older people (30+)
LOLolol…
Oof, I feel this right in the back problems.
I’m sitting here reading this and doing my back stretches before work as we speak.
What’s with all the 30-yos with back problems like that’s not an age where you’re supposed to have a bad back yet lol
Seriously
I’d give my left testicle to be 30 again.
32 and I’m guessing my sciatica is angry because my right testicle hurts whenever my lower back hurts… Am I you? Is my nut gonna fall off? How do I cancel the agreement with Beelzebub?
- Do not assume older people have anything at all figured out
I’m almost 40 coming in here to find informative advice to improve myself
True that. We’ve just got a longer list of mistakes.
That’s just it. “Old(er) People: give me your worst fuckups”
After 60+ years I don’t offer generic unsolicited advice any more (I learned that lesson) but if I were going to break that rule, I’d suggest you read books. Actually read them too, don’t rely on audio books, and read as widely as you can. Sci-fi, mystery, romance, historical, non-fiction, just try to read a book a month. To lose yourself in a book is one of the great ways to maintain mental health.
Also, don’t offer unsolicited advice.
Can you elaborate on the why you don’t offer unsolicited advice? Does this include not giving advice to children or people in the way of harm?
What bunkyprewster said.
People are naturally resistant when told “what to do” so advice isn’t often very helpful.
My family has been through two “don’t get married” interventions. Neither worked, both ended in divorce.
Well that also leads to the saying that you can’t force a horse to drink water but you can lead them to it. Which follows with play stupid games and win stupid prizes.
If anybody hasn’t learned from their failings by not taking sagely advice, then the blame is flat on them for the fuck up.
“Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.”
Feng shui was originally presented as a mystical, “wive’s tale” system exactly because of this. If a sage told a young person to keep their windows clean because then your house will be full of “clean” light instead of “dirty” light, and this will improve your mood, the young person would tell him to shove off. But if he says cleaning your windows invites the lucky spirits to enter your home, it plants a seed in the person’s mind and they might actually try cleaning their windows.
A lot of advice is like medicine. Whether it is good or bad for you depends on what you are or aren’t suffering from
Older people (30+)
Everyone needs to do exercise with resistance (weights, bands, bodyweight). You will not get too muscular by accident. It will prevent aches and pains, it will prevent injuries, it will make it more likely you survive car accidents and false.
Everyone needs to floss, there are no exceptions.
Everyone needs time outside in nature. If you live in a city, get to a park every week, preferably every day. It changes our brain chemistry. We aren’t organized to live in boxes all day.
Learn how to breathe. If you think that sounds silly, you’re the example.
Learn to cook. When you can’t contribute anything else, being able to contribute food is universally accepted
The exercise bit is so important. I’m mid 40s recently started working out with weights again after about 6 years of being somewhat sedentary other than running/walking dogs. Almost instantly I had worked out some pain my shoulder had been giving me that had been preventing me from sleeping well, and I don’t grunt when getting up from a crouched position anymore. Also just feeling better and more capable all around.
Learn how to breathe
Any pointers or tutorials/videos that you’d recommend on this?
Is it about diaphragmatic breathing?
Or remembering to breathe calmly while exercising or doing things?In through the nose, out through the mouth. Your nose is the first step in ‘processing’ air for the lungs. It warms, moistens, and filters the cold, dry, and dirty air for you. You exhale with your mouth because it’s bigger than your nose, which minimizes resistance.
Learn to steady your breaths. Practice, and I mean practice, breathing on counts. That’s inhale for X seconds, hold the same amount, then exhale on the same count. Start at 4 seconds, work your way up. You’re focusing on an even breath, so don’t accelerate or decelerate and if your lungs filled up before you hit your count then try again, but slower.
Learn to breathe from the diaphragm, as you mentioned. Expanding your diaphragm gives your lungs more room to expand, thus increasing your lung capacity. Plus it’s always good to be engaging your core muscles in every little way you can.
Practice a cleansing breath. An incredible tool against anxiety and panic, you’re essentially storing a bank of calm for a rainy day. When you’re feeling fine, breathe on counts, but instead of pushing yourself you close your eyes and focus on how you feel while you’re breathing. Do that, daily. Build the association. Then, when you need to settle tf down, you can take that same breath and connect to that same feeling.
When you’re not talking or chewing, keep your jaw shut, teeth lightly touching (don’t clench it) and your tongue on the roof of your mouth
I’m nearly 40 and the world they are facing is so different to what I experienced that I don’t know if any advice I could give would even make sense.
Don’t suffer fools, I guess. Life is too short to put up with people who don’t, won’t or can’t respect you. You don’t have to make it a big deal, in fact that might be the wrong move if you’re dealing with a narcissist. Instead become uninteresting when interacting with them. The Grey Rock technique.
Take excellent care of your teeth. Whatever you need to do to accomplish this, DO IT. It’s thousands and thousands of dollars later if you don’t. I can’t stress this enough.
Also, work in some strength training. Once your joints start to inflamed and hurt all the time, you will wish you had done this. I know because I do.
Your night vision will start to degrade after age 40 or so. Prepare yourself.
Sitting at a desk all day causes cumulative damage. Standing desks, yoga, little desk treadmills, ergo keyboards and mice: all these things may sound silly when your body can handle it. But the damage is CUMULATIVE. Do the “silly” things now, and slow the accumulation the hell down!
Never stop learning.
Life is hard and stressful whether you’re kind or unkind, so be kind. I don’t mean be a doormat, but don’t be a dick.
Seriously don’t be a dick, just absurdly relevant.
Simple compliments help a lot too. "Nice work!“ or whatever can really make sometimes day!
Start exercise today. Younger folks gain strength and speed much easier than old people. Lack of physical capability kills the elderly, so the more strength and stamina you start with and work to maintain, the longer you will be mobile.
Do cardio and strength exercises. Endurance should be at least 80% of your cardio, that means slow. Brisk walks or slow jogs. For strength training focus on big hinge movements like squats. Start out small, body weight exercises, and go from there. Get some time with a trainer to check your form.
Keep your flexibility… Almost impossible to get out back once it’s gone.
You can do alright, but keeping it is soooooo much easier. It will never get back to what you had if you don’t work to keep it.
Wear the fucking retainer after braces come off.
Sorry no can do, Old Man! I’ve suffered enough
- Your younger self… Probably
