Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future
Sunscreen would be it, the long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice, has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.
I will dispense this advice, now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth.
Nevermind, you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded.
But trust me, in twenty years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself, and recall in a way, you can’t grasp now, how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.
You are not as fat as you imagine.
Don’t worry about the future.
Or worry that know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum.
The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind.
The kind that blindsides you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing everyday that scares you.
Sing.
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don’t waste your time on jealousy, sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind
The race is long, and in the end it’s only with yourself.
Remember compliments you recieve, forget the insults
If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch..
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life
Some of the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22, what they wanted to do with their lives
Some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t
Maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t
Maybe you’ll divorce at 40,
Maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary.
Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either.
Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.
Enjoy your body, use it everyway you can.
Don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it.
It’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.
Dance.
Even if you have no where to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents, you’ll never know when they’ll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings, they’re your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few, you should hold on.
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle,
as the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard.
Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel, accept certain unalienable truths
Prices will rise, politicians will philander
You too will get old
And when you do, you’ll fantiscize that when you were young
Prices were reasonable, politicians were noble
And children respected their elders
Respect your elders
Don’t expect anyone else to support you
Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you’ll have a wealthy spouse
But you never know when either might run out.
Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you’re 40, it will look 85
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
But trust me on the sunscreen.
