Over the years, I’ve accumulated a list of advice from various people, ranging from college roommates to Dear Abby, and it’s all stuff I try to live by. Sometimes I do better than others. None of this is original; no sources are cited, but if you know of any definitive sources, let me know so I can give credit where credit is due.
Here goes!
- It’s only a game if everyone is having fun. It’s only a joke if everyone is laughing.
- No one ever got rich stiffing a waitress or a babysitter.
- Everyone has the right to mourn once. More than that is cruel. (Useful for dealing with people who have dementia and who cannot remember who is still alive.)
- If there is a natural interruption in the conversation, stop talking and let the subject change. If people are really interested, they will ask you to resume. If you persist anyway, you risk being a bore.
- Life is fairer than you know.
- Don’t stress too much about splitting the check, because it should all even out in the long run. If it doesn’t even out, you shouldn’t be friends with those people.
- How rich you are is determined by how much money you have, not how much money you spend.
- Pay your rent and buy your groceries. Everything else is gravy.
- If you really like music, you should spend money on concert tickets rather than stereo equipment.
- If you have money left at the end of a trip abroad, give it to a church on the morning of your departure.
- A drink of water and a good night’s sleep cure many ills.
- If you meet a jerk once a month, then you meet a jerk every month. If you meet a jerk every week, then you’re the jerk.
- Travel with a pen, a pad of paper, and a deck of cards. You never know when you’ll have time to kill—or need to kill a lot of time.
