What 50 year-olds know that 20 year-olds don’t, by Phyl Bean for theladders.com. Unfortunately some of us older people need to learn some of these lessons as well.
1. Be kind. Kind people live longer than unkind people do.
2. I know myself better than anyone else. Don’t let anyone else’s opinions control what you do, wear, or say. Other people’s opinions are merely suggestions – you can take them or leave them.
3. Everyone else is as worried and insecure as you are. Some just hide it better. That doesn’t mean they’re smarter than you.
4. Laugh it off. If you make a mistake, fall down, or do something dumb, just laugh it off. Others will forget it easier if you do. Everyone makes dumb mistakes.
5. Fitting in is highly over-rated. Be you. Great leaders don’t get to where they are by following the crowd.
6. It’s just stuff. It’s annoying, but stuff can be replaced. You can never erase the hurtful words you say to the person you love.
7. You’re probably a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for being.
8. Don’t judge. You don’t know all the facts. Don’t shame people. We all have our faults. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
9. Never lose your inner child.
10. Don’t make major life decisions to please other people.
11. Don’t beat yourself up about stuff. Do what you can to fix your mistakes, then move on.
12. Enjoy life. Have fun.
13. Life goes by really fast.
14. Life is better after 50.
Dennison: a new study suggests that people who tend to be optimistic are likelier than others to live to be eighty-five years old or more. Researchers from Boston University and Harvard found that the most optimistic men and women demonstrated, on average, an 11–15 percent longer lifespan.
Reminds me of Steve Martin’s “Grandmother’s Song”:
Be courteous, kind and forgiving
Be gentle and peaceful each day
Be warm and human and grateful
And have a good thing to say
Be thoughtful and trustful and childlike
Be witty and happy and wise
Be honest and love all your neighbors
Be obsequious, purple, and clairvoyant
Be pompous, obese, and eat cactus
Be dull, and boring, and omnipresent
Criticize things you don't know about
Be oblong and have your knees removed
Be tasteless, rude, and offensive
Live in a swamp and be three dimensional
Put a live chicken in your underwear
Get all excited and go to a yawning festival
Be courteous, kind and forgiving
Be gentle and peaceful each day
Be warm and human and grateful
And have a good thing to say
Be thoughtful and trustful and childlike
Be witty and happy and wise
Be honest and love all your neighbors
Be obsequious, purple, and clairvoyant
Be gentle and peaceful each day
Be warm and human and grateful
And have a good thing to say
Be thoughtful and trustful and childlike
Be witty and happy and wise
Be honest and love all your neighbors
Be obsequious, purple, and clairvoyant
Be pompous, obese, and eat cactus
Be dull, and boring, and omnipresent
Criticize things you don't know about
Be oblong and have your knees removed
Be tasteless, rude, and offensive
Live in a swamp and be three dimensional
Put a live chicken in your underwear
Get all excited and go to a yawning festival
Be courteous, kind and forgiving
Be gentle and peaceful each day
Be warm and human and grateful
And have a good thing to say
Be thoughtful and trustful and childlike
Be witty and happy and wise
Be honest and love all your neighbors
Be obsequious, purple, and clairvoyant
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