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Life changing advice
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| Lira |
So, you went out on a date with her? How the hell!? He had just ditched his girlfriend of two years, as their relationship went sour a few weeks earlier when it became clear she cheated on him. He needed a lift home, and he phoned me. I knew what was going on, and I met him right away.
He was dazed and confused, wondering what to do next. And then he asked me that question. I knew who he was talking about : It was a girl with whom I went out on a couple of times before meeting my girflriend. He had some trouble blending in with our friends, and the fact that she asked me for my phone number puzzled him all the more. Far from being a womaniser, all I could give him was a cliché-ridden speech about existentialism and dating. The moment I ended my speech, he stood up and said "Okay, I'll give it a try".
When I met him the following week, he was a completely different guy. It took him just a couple of days to ask his dream girl out... whom he started dating shortly thereafter. I was amazed and confused. Specially because it wasn't the first time it happened.
Likewise, I've been given good advice (to the extent that it changed how I see life) quite a few times. The first was a very nerdy advice from a friend of mine. We went to a small city, and he showed me how lucky we were to have so much access to knowledge. From that day on, I don't think I've ever spent a day without studying at least for an hour. Another piece of advice worth mentioning, I guess, came from another TA. Although the input from everyone else was just as important, the things Halcyon told me about my long distance relationship really got me thinking ever since - it's never been more than a mere thought (I don't feel like breaking up), but the more time passes, the more I see he hit the nail on the head.
The question, which can also be taken as the CORe version is: Have you ever changed someone's life with a piece of advice? Or else, has anyone else told you something so meaningful to you that it completely changed the way you see the world/dealt with life? |
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| tubularbills |
| i've taken plenty of advice from friends; and given it out as well. but nothing was ever like an epiphany or whatever. it was just like, "meh...cool" |
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| Lebezniatnikov |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lira
The first was a very nerdy advice from a friend of mine. We went to a small city, and he showed me how lucky we were to have so much access to knowledge. From that day on, I don't think I've ever spent a day without studying at least for an hour. |
So true, and it took me forever to realize that as well. It would be easy to slack and not study up, but when you think about it, there's so much to know that it would be a tremendous waste not to make any effort to learn even a fraction of it. With greater understanding also comes greater efficacy in what you do - if you want to change something about the world, you have to first understand it. |
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| SYSTEM-J |
My Dad once told me there's no such thing as a blameless accident. Someone has always ed up. At the time it didn't seem like a revelation, but I've never forgotten it and I've realised more and more how much it informs my thinking.
I apply the same logic beyond accidents, towards things like crime. Some people get mugged or broken into and they blame criminals, and humanity for producing criminals and the grand concepts of greed and sin. I accept that crime exists in an imperfect world and that it's your responsibility to avoid it. If you get mugged or raped or whatever it's almost always because you've ed up in some way. |
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| DJ Damerchi |
in Kingston Ontario, i lost a friend in his 20's this last summer. I knew of this Native cheif from Mosonee, Ontario(james bay). He was known as "the cheif". I knew where to find him usually, and we'd just sit on a bench and i just soaked up his wisdom, he told alot of stories, many to do with the native struggle in the reserves...as well as of his views on life.
It was sad to see a once proud native cheif become victim to alcoholism, but he was a great person to be around. I don't really know if he said anything specific to change my life, it was really the situation--like from a movie...everytime i came by he asked"how u keepin there son" in his rough voice-and he was like a safe haven i could really share things that I couldn't with many people...he had a terrible cough and i was urging him to step into the hospital, but he was always coming up with excuses lol. Most people i know lookdown upon fraternizing with the homeless, and didn't understand this freindship, whereas others saw it as very profound.
He is one of a few interesting characters i met in kingston |
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| Lira |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lebezniatnikov
So true, and it took me forever to realize that as well. It would be easy to slack and not study up, but when you think about it, there's so much to know that it would be a tremendous waste not to make any effort to learn even a fraction of it. With greater understanding also comes greater efficacy in what you do - if you want to change something about the world, you have to first understand it. |
Probably one of the reasons why it took me a while to live by those words is the fact that I'd hear them all the time, but in a different context.
My dad used to tell me - in a somewhat misguided but well-intended evolutionist fashion - that he had come from a very tough childhood, and was able to provide us a life better than the one he had; we had to, therefore, do better than he did, as we had the means to do so.
Because our priorities in life have always been so different (money is definitely not something I think of being primary in my life), the truth behind that didn't really dawn until I was told about how it applied to things that mattered to me. |
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| DJ Damerchi |
| quote: | Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
If you get mugged or raped or whatever it's almost always because you've ed up in some way. |
yeah, i guess being born a woman in western Sudan is ing up in someway... |
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| zag2me |
My ex girlfriend used to work in an old peoples home, I went to pick her up one time but she was running late so I got talking with one of the older residents. He was a 90 year old guy who looked like the happiest guy in the world, he told me that the key to his happiness was that he saved 10% of every pay cheque he had earned since he was 16. I didn't think much of it at the time but kinda liked the guy as he had a positive outlook on life and looked pretty young for his age.
Anyway a couple of months later I found out this guy was a multi millionaire and was just in the home temporarily after his wife had died. I will never get over that positive outlook on life this dude had even after such hard times.
That day changed my life took away the worry of money for me forever. I realised I don't need the latest Ipod, or the biggest TV. Since then a lot of the normal problems people face in life have not effected me in the slightest. Still saving 10% of everything I earn and will do until I die. |
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| Dervish |
| My dad always says "There are very few people who truly want you do well in life, better than them even, and 99% of them will be your family." |
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| SYSTEM-J |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ Damerchi
yeah, i guess being born a woman in western Sudan is ing up in someway... |
I don't know anything about living in Western Sudan so I can't possibly say if it applies there. I think it goes without saying that what advice you get given and how you view your life has a massive amount to do with the conditions you live in. |
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| Frenchie |
| 'Don't eat yellow snow' has been the best advice taken/given. |
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| chrisday |
After uni, I did some travelling around SE Asia for a few months, and yes of course the experience opened my eyes, but it was some of the people I met and there views on life which has such an effect on me.
Thing is back at home I would never really speak to anyone other than my family and mates around the same age. But when I was away, I spoke to people from so many different age groups and nationalities which I would never usually have had the chance to do, this allowed me to get a much wider opinion about aspects of life, which I either didn't really see or appreciate or events which were yet to come.
I would say the best advice has always been from my elders, I always feel comfortable around old people and can listen to them all day! And everything I had been told previously has always happened. |
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