Every once in a while, you hear some advice that just sticks. It may not have been intended as some great piece of life-altering wisdom, but you somehow just never forget it. These AskReddit users share moments from their past that have stayed with them.
Photo Credit: Future CEOs
1. Letting Go
“‘Sometimes you just have to let a ship sink.’
My boss, concerning my friendship with a co-worker I was too naïve to realize was toxic. But this is so true for a lot of relationships and situations, on par with the second piece of life-altering advice I was given:
‘Don’t hold on to a mistake just because you spent a long time making it.'”
2. Perspective
“In a particularly stressful situation at work, I asked my boss how he could be so calm. His response was, ‘Someday, someone you love is going to die. Then you’ll realize that none of this matters.’ That hit me like a load of bricks.”
3. Hotties
“My grandfather had made it 7 months longer than doctors thought, so at his last Christmas he stood up at the table, and we were all expecting some heartwarming speech and he says ‘I just want to say…You’re all hot. Not an ugly one in the bunch.'”
4. Listen To Grandpa
“‘There are a lot of important things in life, but the most important is your health. Without that, all the other things get infinitely harder, so make sure you’re taking care of yourself.’ – Grandpa Chau.
When he said this he was like 90 and he regularly outpaced me while walking (he’s alive we just don’t live in the same country). He also taught me to make and pour tea the right way. I’m very fond of him.”
5. Smart Dad
“Two things my dad said:
1) You will never be good at something in the beginning.
2) We can’t come back to Nana’s house if we don’t leave first.”
6. An Excellent Life Lesson
“On one of my college internships, I was standing in a hard hat/reflective vest near a coworker at a drill site next to a high school.
A teacher pointed at my coworker, and told some students:
‘That is why you go to college. You don’t want to be standing out there making minimum wage like that guy.’
My coworker was a structural engineering Ph.D. with his own practice…we used to have Christmas parties at his mansion in the foothills.
It makes me question my own perceptions about people I do not know.”
Photo Credit: Construction Workers of Texas
7. Getting Your Life Together
“‘Don’t put your mother and sisters through that shit again.’
I had a heroin addiction that I was just getting cleaned up when my dad passed away. I was only 2 months sober at the time. He said that to me as he held my hand 5 minutes before his cancer killed him. December 17th will be my 6th anniversary of no dope.”
8. Looks Can Be Deceiving
“I was an awkward goth punk dipshit at a summer camp thing and I was just sitting by myself enjoying life, and I guess I looked forlorn or something cuz this girl came up to me and said, ‘You need to start having fun. Look how ugly I am and I’m having a GREAT time!'”
9. If At First You Don’t Succeed…
“Someone once told me, when you fall halfway down the stairs no one ever says, ‘Well fuck, might as well just throw myself down the rest of the stairs.’ Remember this when you blow your New Year’s resolutions and then just give up on them or some similar circumstances.”
10. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
“My ninth grade math teacher told me I was going to end up in jail. That pissed me off my whole life, and it was all I could think about my first night in jail.”
11. Don’t Judge A Book By It’s Cover
“My cousin went to a very, very preppy college filled mostly with rich, white kids. So when she got married, a lot of the attendees were kids who I thought were a bunch of privileged douches.
My Grandpa was in his late eighties when she got married, and I spent a lot of time during the wedding weekend escorting him around and making sure he was ok (his health was starting to fail him). During the reception I walked him to the bathroom and he was in a hurry. In the bathroom he kind of brushed past a bunch of the preppy kids in a hurry and said ‘sorry but you can never get between an old man and his toilet.’ They all laughed and thought it was hilarious.
Later than night he wasn’t feeling well and wanted to go to bed (reception was at a hotel). I was walking him out and we were navigating all the tables at the reception. I was moving some seats around so he could get his walker through. All the “douche bag” guys from the bathroom saw what was going on and immediately jumped up to help me move the chairs. A bunch of them were lightly punching Grandpa on the arm joking around and wishing him a great night. I remember one of them saying ‘maybe we’ll actually have a chance with the ladies now that you’re leaving!’ Grandpa laughed so hard and I felt like such a dick for making assumptions about them. They were great guys and make my Grandpa feel really welcomed and cool or whatever.”
Photo Credit: Her Campus
12. Simple, Yet Profound
“Working in a machine shop in 100+ degree heat, I asked the fellow I was working with at the time if he would be alright with me leaving to go get a quick cup of water. He told me ‘Every man deserves a drink of water.’ A simple enough statement, but every time I think about it, I convince myself more and more that there is a deeper meaning to it.”
13. Life Is Long
“Whenever I’m having a crappy day at work, one of my co-workers always reminds me, ‘It’s a bad day, not a bad life.’ And it’s true. Makes me feel a bit better.”
14. Living A Better Life
“Doctor told me a few months ago when my BP got up to 270 / 150. ‘You gotta get this under control so you can raise your son.’ I knew this but to hear someone say it out loud, I just started crying. And since then I’ve lost 50 lbs, take my medicine religiously, and my BP is normal now. Also my son who he was referencing was born two days ago healthy and perfect in every way.”
15. I Don’t Think That’s What He Would Have Wanted
“When my favorite grandfather was in his final days with hospice my cousins and I had been spending a lot of time at his house. We were bored one day and while he was napping we built a tree house (a pretty cool one for 12-year-olds). My grandfather was the type of man always tinkering in the garage with a project. When I told him about it he wept. He couldn’t get out of bed to see it and he knew he never would be able to. While holding back tears he said ‘I’m sorry I can’t see it buddy, but I’m so proud of you. I wish I could’ve helped.’ I wanted to take down every piece of that thing and burn it right then.”
16. Be Good To People
“‘Friends don’t let friends starve.’
I had a friend say that to me when I was without any food at all just due to circumstance. I wasn’t doing anything wrong, I had moved and had some unforeseen expenses and was a minimum wage earner. I needed to last a week till I got paid. When he found out he came over with some basics and stuff like Kraft dinner and whatnot. He was like, look you’re just in a bad spot, and you help people like that.
He just asked that I pay it forward, and not be suckered in by irresponsible people.”
Photo Credit: Letter It
17. No Judgements
“‘The weirdest people always have the darkest stories.’
I was making fun of some family friend when my mom told me this. I think about it all the time and it definitely helps slow down first judgements on people.”
18. Know Your Enemy
“‘Don’t make life miserable for someone who can make it worse for you.’
I’ll never forget this Gramps.”
19. That’s Just Good Sense
“‘When you’re working on your bike (motorcycle), drink beer from cans, cause when you fuck up, sweeping up a broken bottle only pisses you off more’
Fatherly advice…”
Photo Credit: Crosswalk
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