People Break Down The Absolute Best Advice They've Ever Received
It's so easy for us to get caught up in the negative things in our day-to-day lives, whether it's a bad day at work or an ended relationship, but it's important to remember what else we have going for it.
Sometimes the best thing to do is to listen to the people we look up to, and let their words help us move through the tough time.
Redditor Miller1xo asked:
"What's the best advice you've ever received?"
It's Not That Important
"No one cares."
"That's actually the advice."
"The vast majority of people are more concerned about going about their own days and doing their own things."
"I kept being too socially conscious of myself around others, believing that every move I was making was being monitored and judged all the time."
"But the reality was that, just like me, everyone around me was just focused on themselves and what they were doing and not at all on others."
"And if anyone did anything out of the ordinary or 'embarrassing,' we all forgot about it the next day."
"So once I realized this, my social anxiety essentially disappeared after a month and I was far more comfortable in my own skin."
- fortifier22
The Bad Comes with the Good
"Life sucks, get a helmet."
"And life is like a s**t sandwich, every now and again you gotta take a bite. But the more bread you have, the less s**t you taste."
- vNerdNeck
The Great Aunt Has Spoken
"Three rules from a great aunt:"
"Go to the restroom while you have a chance."
"If there's a seat available, sit down."
"If someone offers you a breath mint, take it."
- realitygroupie
Just Ask
"If you ask, they might say yes. They might also say no, but if you don't ask, it's always a no. So ask."
- frid
Nothing Can Change if Nothing Ever Changes
"Not making a decision IS making a decision."
"As someone who struggles with indecisiveness, this has been an important one. It's easy to get wrapped up in analyzing options, especially what could go wrong. Sometimes the decision paralysis is worse than the consequences of a suboptimal choice."
- FatherJohnFahey
Take Care of Your Body
"Look after your back. You will be sorry in later years if you don't, and it's much easier to look after it now than try to fix it later."
- LucyVialli
Progress, Not Perfection
"Doing something imperfectly is better than not doing it at all."
- T3canolis
Perfection is an Obstacle
"There's a common phrase, 'Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.'"
"I like to adapt it: 'Don't let perfect be the enemy of done.'"
- angry_guacamole
Let It Go
"The best advice I ever saw was from Bo Burnham on a talk show. Conan O'Brien asked the standard question: 'What advice would you have for other young people who want to pursue their dreams like you?'"
"He responded: 'Well, my advice for you would be to take a deep breath...and give up. I got to where I am today purely because of luck. All these celebs today like Taylor Swift telling you to 'be yourself and follow your dreams,' it's like saying 'liquidize your assets, buy Powerball tickets! get rich! it works!' It doesn't work.'"
"'...Ten years ago I was just a dumb, skinny white kid who didn't know what he was doing. Now the only thing that's changed is I'm famous.'"
"Just do whatever you want, and if you get lucky and hit it rich then that's great. But it probably won't happen."
- VisconitiKing
Put Yourself Out There
"Hard work alone won't do sh*t for you. Chance encounters, a seemingly small conversation, and Cosmic timing have a much bigger impact on your success than hard work alone."
"In my case, there was a random LinkedIn message from a recruiter and a gut feeling I should respond to it. That led me to have a successful job that values work-life balance and pays way more than my previous company."
"Networking is an example of this. If you happened to know a guy who knows a guy, you can land pretty sweet jobs over someone who quietly works overtime all day every day."
"The family you are born into can also play into it. Apologies to Taylor swift fans, but there isn't anything special about her. If she was an average person, she would not have had the same level of success. Her family's connection to the record industry played a huge part in her initial success."
- ansteve1
Dump Her Back
"My first love left me for another guy. I was visibly depressed, and my Granddad asked, 'What's wrong with you?' I told him. He responded, 'Dump her back.'"
"I was bewildered. What the f**k does that mean?"
"Then, a few months later, my ex-girlfriend got dumped by the new guy and pleaded with me to take her back. It got to the point of her stalking me."
"I stood firm and dumped her back."
- frederick_ungman
Perspective is Everything
"While driving one day, I was p**sed that someone cut me off when I had the right of way."
"My Great Grandfather told me, 'There's a lot of dead people who had the right of way, too.'"
"I never forgot that advice. It may not be the best advice ever but it always stuck with me."
- SeriousBlak
Practice Gratitude
"A hundred dollars isn’t a lot to have, but it’s a lot to need."
- bang0_slank
Parenting Hacks
"If you have little kids, triple sheet their beds, alternating with full-size waterproof pads. So: pad, sheet, pad, sheet, pad, sheet."
"In the middle of the night when you have work in the morning and they wet the bed or throw up or get a nosebleed, pull up one layer, toss it into the laundry, and put the kid right back to sleep."
"Also, if anyone in your house isn't feeling well, give your kid a bucket or something next to their bed in case they wake up feeling sick. No one likes to clean up a trail of vomit from the kid's room to the parent's room or bathroom in the middle of the night."
- goddess_eris
Surround Yourself with People Who Support You
"When no one's got your back... move your f**king back."
- IJacboy
Each of these concepts are great ways to get more out of life, but the big ticket item here is perspective.
So often, we exaggerate things, whether how embarrassing a mistake was or how hard it will be to complete that task or how bad we think we have it, but if we compare that to someone else's circumstances, or how small this moment is in the grand scheme of things, it suddenly becomes easier to be more grateful and take more from life.
People Share Their Favorite Purchases Under $50 That Completely Changed Their Life
Fam. Weighted blankets.
If you (or your kids - I see you, exhausted parents) struggle to stay asleep at night, weighted blankets might be a game changer for you. We got one for our 1-year-old after a week of her waking up at 4AM for baby jam sessions.
Best $31.99 we have ever spent. Ever.
She slept til 1030 the morning after we got.
Our product review was like:
Sad The Office GIF Giphy
One Reddit user asked:
What item under $50 drastically improved your life?
You obviously know ours, so lets see what Reddit had to say.
Lappy
A foldable laptop stand for 15€. Always thought you didn't need this stuff, how different from without one can it be - but it does wonders for my neck. Travels everywhere with me now.
It was an Amazon Prime sale back in November, but I'd say the 20€ it's priced at now is definitely still worth it.
I like it because the dark gray metallic color matches my laptop and the aluminium material feels way sturdier than a plastic stand would. I chose a very slim model that's basically just a framework for the laptop, no table or anything, because I mainly need this to take up the least possible space in my backpack as I travel with it every day.
It's perfect.
Rubber Bristles
A rubber bristled broom. I have two dogs and two cats, and my house is all hardwood and tile. A regular broom just sends the fur floating everywhere, but my rubber broom keeps it all nice and tidy and easy to pick up. It works on my area rug and upholstered furniture, too!
- Boose81
I've never even considered that something like this exists.
No more cat hair tumbleweeds rolling around the apartment!
I recently got one and it is amazing. The other end is a squeegee but I haven't tried that yet.
- _perl_
Let There Be Light
A wake up light alarm clock. The light turns on gradually and wakes you up gradually rather than waking up to obnoxious beeping. Makes the start of my day more positive.
Yes I LOVE mine! Especially in the winter when I have to wake up hours before sunrise
We just discovered this functionality is built into our Android phones. I don't know if it's just the Motorola brand, but it looks like it's part of the basic Android operating system now. it turns the screen a deep red that slowly brightens into a bright Cheery sunshine yellow. It is definitely a more pleasant way to wake up!
The Drain Thingies
shower shaving GIFGiphyIn my uni house of 4 long-haired girls, we had a sieve-type drain thingie that went over the plughole. It still let water through but caught all the hair to stop it from clogging the drain.
Yeah, that definitely cost a lot less than a plumber or us losing our deposit
I lived in a house with 5 people, me and another short hair guy lived downstairs with our own bathroom, and upstairs was 2 long haired people and 1 medium-length. They never bothered to use a hair catch, and at some point every started showering downstairs.
Me n the other guy were like "why?" and they said the upstairs bathtub doesn't drain.
When we got a plumber out there, they pulled like a full head of hair out of that drain...
This item is definitely am awesome buy. I don't have a long hair in the drain problem, but I do have a lab that sheds enough for 3 dogs, so when I bathe her, I use the drain cover you are talking about, and collect almost a grocery bag full of hair. It would definitely clog the drain.
Heat
A heated blanket, don't know how I ever survived winters before this.
My bedroom is in the attic and it gets cold. Due to how stuff is wired the heating in my room only goes on when it's cold downstairs, but since it doesn't get that cold downstairs my heating never starts up.
This has saved me so much cold nights curled up in a ball at night trying to warm up, it's amazing
Same! Saves putting the heating on for the whole house when all you want is for your bed not to be ice-cold in the evening!
Shh!
Earplugs. They saved my final exams in highschool when my sister and her 1.5 and 3yo kids tornadoed through the whole house.
I play some music super low on my earbuds and then wear my shooting ear protection over them. I can't hear sh*t and instantly focused. Saved me every time I took an exam last semester at my noisy parent's house.
The Perfect Pencil
This one mechanical pencil that I bought in high school or earlier. I'll graduate college soon which means I've been writing with the same pencil for somewhat 10 years.
It fits perfectly between my fingers. I've kept a traditional diary since I was a kid and it has become more and more important since hardly anything requires paper and a pencil today. So many memories from the happiest moments to the absolute worst have been written down using this pencil.
I have a few other pencils as well but they don't feel right and eventually I'll put them away and return to my old friend.
- petuwk
Get In The Garden
fox tv dancing GIF by Bob's BurgersGiphyAbout 20 years ago I bought a 3 VHS tape set that showed me this guy, Sepp Holzer, doing pond and gardens and raising animals in a way far better than I imagined. It has been the core of my life ever since.
Thank you for posting this. My ten year old daughter is obsessed with gardening and sustainability.
We recently bought some land in the Blue Ridge mountains and she has been very diligent in planning out what she wants to plant where, she has started her compost pile when we raked the leaves in the fall and was just asking me if she can build a greenhouse before next fall.
I just showed her your videos and her eyes lit up the way a kids eyes light up when they've found their new obsession.
Shower Chair
Shower chair.
I've got a f*cked up back and I initially got it for that but even if my back was fine I'd still have one, they're so useful. If you shave your legs, you won't regret it.
I'm heavily pregnant at the moment and have been seriously considering getting a shower chair lol. Now I think I may just go ahead and do it
Butter
A butter dish/butter tray.
Room temp butter always available. No more trying to spread hard butter out of the fridge. Unrefrigerated and covered butter is good for like 2 weeks.
It never lasts that long.
What?! I did not even know you could leave butter outside.
I always thought it was in the same realm as milk, where you store it chilled and only take it out when you need to use it. That's just how it is, living in the tropics I guess? This could be a game changer.
I've always thought butter needed to be refrigerated too but then I went to a friend's house and saw they left theirs out so I started to leave mine out.
Well I made breakfast and bust out my room temp butter and my friend gives me the are you trying to kill me look. I confidently said butter can be left out, but to be honest I wasn't 100% sure.
But I'm not going back to cold, hard butter.
Spoontula?
I can't for the life of me find it again, but my favorite kitchen tool is a silicon spatula/spoon fusion sort of thing.
Unlike regular spatulas, you can hold liquid in it, but it still scrapes everything little lick of sauce of anything.
Couldn't have cost more than $10 and it was part of a set.
- Ascalion
Immediate Results
A bio electrical scale.
I'm very impatient with healthy diets and exercise because I don't see immediate results, but with a bio electrical scale which sends small electric currents through your body to measure your body fat percentage, water, protein etc etc you see changes, even if they are minuscule.
It's motivating because in the end you see your body reacting to sport and healthy food
German Shepard Showers
Handheld shower head..
I have a German Shepard who occasionally enjoys rolling in dirty puddles and creeks.
I also live in an apartment so no outside hose..
I was trying the "cup method" of bathing and it was almost impossible...
Got the idea randomly at Home Depot and it makes the whole process 100X easier
The Bone Zone
Bone conduction headphones. Bit of a long story this one but I had a tumour removed from the back of my skull behind my right ear and left me with permanent hearing loss on the right, I'd say it's about 30% what it should be.
Earphones, buds and headphones have to be compensated in the balance settings so my audio sounded central. Bone conduction earphones have now allowed me Cristal clear (in comparison) audio without having to change balance settings.
I now have these earphones on 24/7 and because they don't cover or enter your ears I'm able to have a comfortable lightweight alternative on me at all times and has brought me additional perks such as always having Siri at use to reply to messages, that are read out to me as I receive them.
They connect to my phone, watch and I can ask them where my keys and wallet are as they're connected to my Tile key ring and wallet card.
I feel lost if I don't have them on anymore!
I'm a big EDC person and these have been the best prices of kit I've owned in a very very long time!
Commercial Shiny
Moroccan oil for my hair. I have dry hair and a lot of baby hairs that tend to make my hair look crusty and messy. A little Moroccan oil after you get out of the shower gives you TV commercial shiny hair!
Peasants
My Luxe 185 bidet, from Amazon.
SERIOUSLY the best $44 I've ever spent.
Wiping my a$$ with toilet paper has never made sense to me. If I got sh*t on my hands, I wouldn't just wipe it off, and go on about my day. Why's it okay for the back door?
Y'all keep wiping.... Peasants.
- Adk318
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Do not play fast and loose with the advice you give. You just might make someone radically alter the course of their life.
At times, it can feel like epiphanies don’t actually exist in real life. It’s as if they only really take hold and produce real change in TV shows and Hollywood movies.
Usually, a sudden moment of clarity remains exactly that: momentary. It comes, excites, and passes by, leaving you pretty much the same as you always were.
But apparently some bits of clarity do have a permanent, life-altering impact. At least, according to self-reporting folks on the internet they do.
Reddit user weathertimes asked, "What is one piece of advice that has changed you?"
Humble, but Firm
"You gotta know the differences between someone giving you constructive criticism, and someone just trying to hurt you."
"If you don't, then you will either think everything said to you is something you need to change, or think everyone is out to get you."
FDR, With Some Depression-Era Thinking
"Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are."
Because They Likely Aren’t Returning the Favor
Don't let people live rent free in your head. The only person it’s upsetting is you.
Tenderness Doesn’t Have to Stay Outward
Be the person you needed when you were younger.
Acknowledge Your Stuff
Anger is 99.9% a secondary reaction to feeling another emotion such as sadness, guilt etc.
Takes Being Bad to be Good
The difference between the novice & the master is that the master has failed more times then the novice has tried.