041: 29 pieces of advice 🎁
before my 30th birthday
Tomorrow, Wednesday, February 23, 2022, I’m turning 30 years old. Here are a few things I’ve learned in all that time.
It's okay to tell people you don't LIKE like them (it's just really hard to do most of the time).
Buy concert tickets when they're first released.
Wear sunscreen. No matter how different you think you're built, you can't take on the fucking sun.
When you're doing some work around the house or running errands, no matter how long you think something will take, always add an extra hour.
Hang and frame all your diplomas and awards.
Go to Marshall's for bathroom products, candles, athletic wear, and awesome hoodies.
But the candles at Bath & Body Works are the best ones. They smell stronger than Marshall's candles. Marshall's candles can be hit or miss. Still a great value, though. Make sure to go to Bath & Body Works when the candles are on sale. Regular prices are too much.
When’s the last time you actually closed all your tabs and shut down your computer?
Do your taxes as early as you can. It's okay to get a professional. It's okay to not understand Turbo Tax. Don't let people who work in finance and spend all day with numbers and this confusing shit make you feel stupid for not understanding what the fuck is going on with your taxes. You have enough going on in your life to sit around during your free time and try to understand the complicated-ass tax code.
Pay someone to do your taxes for you.
Once you reach a certain age, going out for a drink in the middle of the week or going to sleep late (regardless of drinking) if you have to wake up early for work are BAD DECISIONS. It's okay to say “No” to your friend for a drink if you want to focus on yourself and going to sleep on time.
If you don't like a book or a show, you can just stop watching it. Seriously, try it out, it's a beautiful thing.
Not every piece of entertainment has to be life-changing or have some sort of deep meaning. Sometimes it's awesome to just watch robot aliens fight each other and blow shit up with the occasional one-liners from Tyrese.
If you don't like what someone posts on Instagram or Twitter, unfollow them! It's not personal. It's just your feed. Now, Facebook is a little different because you have to be added as friends. Also, I don't go on Facebook. But I can understand if you prefer to just mute that person instead.
Floss every night. If you think it's not necessary, just floss one time after reading this to see how much shit in your teeth you're missing by not flossing. You'll never skip flossing again.
You don't need to have an opinion on every piece of music immediately after it's released. Listen to it a few times before formulating your thoughts on something someone probably poured their entire heart and soul into but you think you got the gist of it while running around Target trying to remember what you need for the kitchen.
All other circumstances permitting, walk those four blocks instead of calling rideshare.
If you ever become a boss at a company or anywhere else, here's one thing that really sucks to experience as an employee: A forwarded email with no context that just says "See below" or "Do this, please." Then you have to read through about 5-10 emails worth of back and forth to figure out what you're supposed to do. It kind of feels like the boss wants the employee to read their mind or know exactly what's happening in a conversation they arrived 45 minutes late to. Just give people some context. One sentence isn't that hard to write and will help the person you're forwarding the email to get whatever it is you want to be done faster.
When you're crossing the street, and a car is coming, so you do that little mini-run to avoid getting hit and you think you probably look like an idiot to anyone in their car—you do look like an idiot. But it's better to look like an idiot than to get hit by a car.
The way someone treats you is a reflection of themselves, but that doesn't mean you should let yourself be disrespected.
You can be there for people in the way you are available, but be prepared to accept when that isn't enough for them.
The things you think will never happen to you will happen to you at one point or another. Be ready for anything and everything because
You're going to lose people. (See #21)
Not everyone is going to like you.
If you feel like something is off about someone, but you just can't put your finger on exactly what it is, trust your gut.
Read more books and learn more shit. Take a second to stop and think about how we're constantly bombarded with information and different forms of media. You’re never going to be able to take in every single piece of info out there, and at one point or another, people actually stop learning shit. They don't pick up books, they don't learn about history. They just watch Euphoria on Sunday nights and tweet about it. And it's okay to do that (I love doing that). But keep reading and learning! There's so much about history and the world that we aren't taught in schools, and you're never going to learn it if you don't go out and find the information yourself. And that is not a long-winded way of saying "do your own research." Leave the medical research to the medical professionals. What I mean is learn that the people who built the USA were a bunch of mostly racist, wealthy, slave-owning, land-owning white dudes, and that probably had a big influence on why things were created the way they were. And we can still feel those repercussions today. And that many of the stories we're told were passed down by the winners, the people who might've done horrible things and come out on top. So be skeptical of exactly who they call the bad guy and who they call the good guys. (Ex: American History - The Native Americans are the good ones. Ex 2: No country should have overseas territories because that means at some point they invaded that land and took over the indigenous people living there forcing them to live under their rule.)
Hug your friends and say "I love you" to them often.
Call your parents and family members regularly.
Never be afraid to love. Never be scared to give everything you've got inside to show someone how beautiful you think they are and help them see how beautiful the world can be. Not everyone is going to accept it the way you think they should, but that shouldn't stop you from doing it anyway. Because to have loved and lost might hurt (a lot), but to never have loved at all hurts more than anything.
PS
All the Jordanians died after this 💥
BONUS ADVICE: A human’s intricate thoughts and behaviors and complex life experiences cannot be summed up in a single tweet you saw screenshotted and posted on Instagram. Please stop thinking because one thing you read kinda makes sense at the moment that you should live your entire life based on that idea.