Are you ready to be blown away by some life advice? The advice on itself was so damn simple but it still blew me away. The advice on itself wasn’t given to me. I never met the man personally, he died some months ago (may he rest in peace). He told it to someone else and that person told it to me and added some things from his own. So keep in mind that the person who gave the advice was 92 when he gave the advice. It was one simple sentence that consisted of 3 words. His life advice was the following: life is short.
Life advises from a 92- year old that’ll blow you away.
Can you imagine how I felt? I’m only 25 and some guy who was 72 years older claimed that life was short. Those 3 words contain a lot of wisdom. So much wisdom that I can devote a long-ass blog post to it. Its true life is short but he never claimed that it was too short. Life isn’t too short if you make the right choices. It’s all about the little things in life. I’m pretty sure that nobody ever reaches his/her full potential at the end of their lives even if they take all the right choices. But a lot of people will never reach a 10th of their potential and that’s sad. Here are some life lessons following this advice (some were told to me by someone of higher age, others were added by me).
Life advice from a 92- year old: stays true to you.
It’s easy to follow the herd without ever questioning what you’re doing but does it make you happy? I highly doubt it to be honest. So many people do things which they don’t like or that goes in against their norms and values but they do it anyway. You might be afraid of being the real you because you assume that it’s hard but can you guess what’s a lot harder? It’s a lot harder to put up an act because now you have to deal with a fake personality and a lot of unhappiness. You can’t keep up this act forever. Trust me on this one. This was one of the reasons why I was so depressed.
Life advice from a 92- year old: be a good person.
Be the guy you want your daughter to marry. I liked that when I heard this for the first time. So many people hurt other people or do horrible things to others. It’s like they’re not aware of the consequences or they might not care. That’s possible as well of course. Just be a good person, you’ll have some peace of mind when you live with that code. Your actions will catch up with you and you don’t want to face them all when you’re in your mid 70’s. Everybody has a conscience and it’ll start to work at some point in life.
Don’t make enemies, don’t hurt people, be good for your loved ones and take care of yourself. Just be a good human being. That alone is a hard task these days. Just look at how many people throw shit online to each other.
Life advise from a 92- year old: do what you love…
I was always fond of martial arts and competition when I was a little kid. Eventually, I wanted to take up boxing but my parents didn’t let me too because they didn’t like the sport. I tried different sports but they gave me a satisfying feeling. That all changed when I found MMA when I was 23. I was intrigued from the start and a lot of people told me to quit the sport since they had seen some violent videos on the internet. Others claim that I’m wasting my time but why would I listen to those people? I just love the sport. Being in the gym makes me happy. Getting better makes me happy. This gives me true joy. I barely care about anything else, to be honest.
What kind of life would I have if I quit doing it? I would be stuck in a dumb job that gives me zero satisfaction and where working overtime is just something that everybody’s doing. You can have that. My happiness is my priority, not my job. All the people who think that you should prioritize a company car, a high paycheck and things that make you able to impress others should take a good look in the mirror. They won’t see a happy face when they take a look.
Life advise from a 92- year old: be (un)comfortable.
Too much comfort is never a good idea but too much discomfort is a bad idea as well. You should try to aim somewhere in between. That’s what makes life great. Life is pretty boring when it’s all planned out, especially when it’s for a longer period. I always wonder how people keep on getting up to a job that they hate for 40 years in a row. It makes zero sense to me but they claim that I’m the weird guy when I question this. I guess that’s what happens when you’re trying to be too comfortable.
The sudden adventures will give you the most joy in life if you’re still somewhat in control. It’s called a calculated risk. My trip to Stockholm is a pretty great example of this. There were 4 certainties for the whole trip.
- I had a place to sleep.
- I knew where I was going to eat.
- It was a solo trip.
- Last but not least: I knew where I was going to train.
That’s about all the security I needed to enjoy one of the best experiences of my life.
Life advise from a 92- year old: pick your friends wisely.
You are a product of your environment so pick your best friends wisely. You won’t see party animals and ambitious people together a lot. It’s just a different lifestyle. The same goes for people who complain a lot. Those people will attract other complainers or drive people away with their negativity.
Just try to remain happy while you surrounded by negativity. It’s pretty damn hard so you either get out or you’ll end up the same. It might happen slowly but it’ll happen. So pick great friends over toxic friends. I’m a young guy and I don’t have a lot of friends but the ones that I have aren’t replaceable. I have the best friends in the world because they want the best for me and I want the best for them. We lift each other because that’s what great people do!
Life advise from a 92- year old: leave your ego at the door.
There are a lot of people with a giant ego these days. Or they link their ego to something like their car. But people with a giant ego have 3 big problems. It’s a triple threat and they don’t realize it.
- they can’t learn out of arrogance
- they undermine their happiness
- their relationships are mostly toxic
People with a giant ego can’t be vulnerable and I know what some men will say right now. “Vulnerability is a sign of weakness bro.” Well it’s not, it’s a sign of strength. It proves that you’re human and imperfect. It’s a sign that you can grow as a person. You can up fake acts and so on but you’ll never be happy. You’ll be miserable because of your actions. The best friendships and relationships are the ones where there’s room for vulnerability. All the others will just end up divorced.
Life advise from a 92- year old: Why aren’t you happy?
Some people are doing things that they don’t like but keep on doing it. This can be going to college, being stuck in a certain job. It can be many things but I have one simple question for those people: if you’re unhappy, why are you still doing it? Life is short remember?! Do you want to live a short but unhappy life? I don’t see the point in doing it. Weirdly, some people don’t get this but I guess that they delude themselves with the thought that everything will get better. Well, things will get better but only if you take action. Nothing will happen if you keep on waiting.
Life advice from a 92- year old: don’t judge others.
I’m going to receive a lot of shit for this one. You see a lot of people claim that I always criticize our modern-day society. Which might be true if you look at it from a certain perspective. I just write about what I see but I don’t judge. I just try to write these blogs in such a way that they make you think about your behavior. Sometimes it just hurts to hear the truth. Anyways, never judge others or their behavior even when it’s really bad. Someone can just freak out because they’ve got through a rough week. It’s not an excuse to act like a total asshole but some people just can’t handle their emotions properly. You’ll react way differently if you try to understand these people instead of judging or freaking out.
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Alex
