My Favorite Life Lessons

This blog post is all about adages, axioms, mottos, life lessons --some are cliched,  all are true. 

There's an old expression that "youth is wasted on the young." I heard it all my life and never quite got it.  I just thought those who said it --who were always older than I was-- were just annoyed that they were older than whoever it was they were thinking of when they made the comment. Now I know better. That expression has nothing to do with being annoyed at someone younger than you are, it's all about having learned that we don't really really know what life is all about until we've lived awhile.  In other words, "if we knew then what we know now" we might have done some things a little differently, made some different decisions, chose a different path, told somebody to "eff off" and then walked away and meant it. 

Another adage that I've lived enough to learn that it's true is "you teach people how to treat you." I love this one because it's dead on...and just common sense.  People will only repeatedly do to you what you let them get away with. 

I love these kinds of maxims. They just sort of sum up what you need to know in a simple and clear way.

A few weeks ago, a reader of this blog --Robbie-- said a favorite saying of hers is "don't do anything to get a man that you're not willing to do to keep him."  Excellent advice.   And I think it extends beyond a man. It's true for any relationship, including at work. 

My book, The Spinsterlicious Life:20 Life Lessons for Living Happily Single and Childfree, is kinda based on these kinds of common sense rules that maybe sometimes are common sense only in retrospect. They're not as catchy as some I just mentioned, but they still remind me of what I'm supposed to do. 

These are my life lessons from the book (each appended with a story on how I got there):

• Lesson 1 - Marriage. Kids. They're not for everybody.

• Lesson 2- Indulge yourself with romance, sex, adventure.

• Lesson 3- If your ex was a jackass the first time around, he probably still is.

• Lesson 4- If you don't get married, who's gonna fix that? (meaning even independent women need help sometime)

• Lesson 5- If your husband doesn't like you, he might kill you.

• Lesson 6- Know who you really are, not who you wish you were.

• Lesson 7-  Laugh at the inanity of it all.

• Lesson 8- Be nice to old people.

• Lesson 9- Use birth control.

• Lesson 10- Don't be shallow.

• Lesson 11- Be patient with women who mostly only talk about their kids. (A mouthful, I know, but an important one).
• Lesson 12- Pregnancy has it's benefits. As a spinster, you'll miss out on them. (Basically, life has trade offs).

• Lesson 13- Let labels roll off your back. Don't let others define you.

• Lesson 14- When your friend marries, you're not losing a girlfriend, you're gaining a boy friend.

• Lesson 15- Go to therapy if you're crazy.

• Lesson 16- You can't force chemistry.

• Lesson 17- If you have to think about it, you don't really want a baby.

• Lesson 18- Accept help when it's offered.

• Lesson 19- Wear high heels.

• Lesson 20- Being single and childfree is good.

Each one of these lessons has helped me retain some semblance of sanity.  

I'm going to run a few excerpts from my book over the next couple of weeks, and wonder which of the above life lessons would you like to see first?  Please pick two.  Of course, that's assuming you want to see any. 

And what can you add to the list?  What adages/sayings have you found to be helpful in your life?

NOTE: My new book --The Spinsterlicious Life: 20 Life Lessons for Living Happily Single and Childfree-- has been published and is available here, and on Amazon.

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