Designer's secrets to a long and wacky life:

I'll be 80-something on 10-31-2009 and I'm guessing I'm the oldest cat here so let share my wisdom with yous young folks:

• Live life for you – In the end you have to be happy so make choices that will make you happy but not at the expense of others or to the detriment of your long term health and financial situation.
• Love yourself – No I mean don't in the dark with one hand and nudie book. Be good to yourself and learn to forgive yourself because we all do things we regret so learn from those things and move on.
• Be smart about other people – I remember an old saying [I just don't remember where I heard it cause I'm old and I ramble and I forget stuff cause old and I ramble....... oh yeah] There's this saying “25% of people will like you for the right reasons and 25% will like you for the wrong reasons. 25% of people will dislike you for the wrong reasons and 25% will dislike you for the right reasons. Seems to me that you can't really control what other people think about you so you need to not sweat it.
• Make your wife/girlfriend feel like a Queen – Treat them right and if they are good, everything else will take care of itself. But you know this already.
• Sex – Lots of if. I mean quality lovemaking... You know what I mean.

Read it.
Learn it.
Live it.


Feel free to add your own secrets too.
Let's all live long.

 

rayer:

I didnt know your age and now Im in TOTAL awe!
May I be like you when I arrive at 80-something.

Wise words.. I think my biggest lesson so far is to be nicer to myself and not be so worried about if people like me or not ("did I say the right thing", "was I mean/", "could I have been nicer?" bla bla) - I spent all my teens, 20's and a bit of the 30's trying to please people. Now I dont care, and Im SO much happier

 

You speak with wisdom sister!!!

 

Well, thank you D but you are the wise one here...
Not that I became mean - Im still nice(ish), but I stopped analyzing all my actions and words .. it was exchausting, and quite counter productive.

I always say to people these days - that you teach people how to treat you - you must set limits as people take advantage of that and expect you to say "yes" to everything and get mad when you dont ..
and I think once I stopped being so enormeously distracted by how I was percieved by others, I think I acctually became more likeable...

 

Here's one:

Let it go. That lady that knocked over your garbage can? The douchebag that cut you off in traffic? The teacher that failed you? The boyfriend/girlfriend that cheated on you? The parent that neglected you? Let it go. Even the things that are hard to let go, when people severely hurt and abuse us. Emotional distress builds up, even the little things. Over a long period of time a lot of little things becomes a very large festering wound without proper care.

Accept that others, like yourself, are flawed human beings, forgive them (but for heaven's sake learn from the experience), forgive yourself, and move on. Don't give others the power to destroy your emotional livelihood.

And another:

Learn from your mistakes, and the mistakes of others. The second part is key, as the first part is pretty obvious (despite how many who never seem to learn from their own experiences). If someone takes a wrong route to work and hits a traffic jam, and then texts you about it..you won't take that route, will you? Well, when someone does something stupid in their life, learn from it. I get so tired of seeing people blame their stupid choices on others. "My dad was a junkie, so I decided to do drugs to cope. It's his fault."

another:

Learn everything you can. Make informed choices. Don't believe blindly what anyone tells you. Make up your own mind, don't let others do it for you.

Last one: always wear sunscreen, even if you don't get burned. Skin cancer is scary.



I should probably add that I'm one of those "young folks"...but only in the number of years I've been on the planet. Experience ages the mind a lot faster than time.