Don't put that in your mouth
In a conversation some time ago, Gina observed that if she were able to give her younger self only one piece of advice, it might well be
Don't put that in your mouth.
All dirty jokes aside, if you think of speaking as putting words in your mouth this single line might indeed be the best advice any of us could heed at many points in our lives.
For example, if many of us followed it with food, we wouldn't be so fat. That sure applies to me. If we took greater care with what we said to others, we might do a lot less emotional damage. Smokers could avoid the start of a very dangerous habit. If we creep a tad closer to the dirty joke and apply this to kissing, we might not start some of the less sensible relationships we've had. And so on.
Of course, each act of restraint creates a corresponding experiential loss, but I'm quite certain that many of the experiences I would lose would be fine losses.
What one bit of advice would you most like to give your younger self?
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4 comments:
Instead of "don't put that in your mouth," I'd tell my past self not to go on weight-loss diets, thus not wasting years in yo-yoing weight (proven to be less healthy than a steady high weight), not creating food obsessions (which also took me years to get rid of), and not reinforcing that I was bad in some fundamental way when I just needed to tweak my habits a bit. Along with that: You look fine and will do enviably in love when the time comes; enjoy being active; relax, because when you make it through your teens and early twenties, you'll actually be very happy.
Many good points, also, Bernadette.
"Don't worry about failing or looking like an idiot (no one else will notice or care)"
...of course, following this advice later in life has gotten me in some trouble- it's won more than it's lost & almost invariably been more than worth it.
Also, I would like to note that I can't think of anything I really regret having put in my mouth... though occasionally things that have come out are problematic.
I have some regrets in both directions.
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