30 “I Wish I Knew This Earlier” Blunt, Yet Honest Pieces Of Advice From 40+-Year-Olds

1. Upvotes and thumbsup from social media doesn't matter. Your job title on LinkedIn doesn't matter. **Like nobody cares.** Your children won't care, your loved ones won't care, your gravestone won't say anything about it.
2. Don't think you are the be all and end all when it comes to trends and social knowledge. 20 years from now your children will look back upon you as savages. This happens every generation. Think about context before you judge others.
3. One person already said it, **but don't think you are so special**. The trends of parents over the past 20-30 years (saying you are perfection) isn't helping you. Work hard, live a good life -- be kind to others, admit your mistakes. (Aside: I have two kids and worked really hard to make them feel loved while simultaneously making sure they take responsibility for their actions)

You know that dream that seems nuts to pursue?

Do it now.

When you’re old, with a house and a mortgage and a dog, s**t like “I want to make a movie” get much more complicated

Dull answers, but genuine ones:
- put more into your pension than you are now
- avoid debt where you can
- don't hold grudges
- look after your health
- learn to enjoy the now
- be nice to your parents. They might be d***s, but you'll probably still miss them

People at work are not your friend! Even if they're nice to you.

Enjoy your hairline/boobs, they aren't going to get better and you will fondly look back on where they were situated when you were younger and hotter.

Keep at a healthy weight/fitness level, and do more now than sitting around waiting for later.

Stop. You won't ever be the perfect image of yourself in your head

Once you're out of school, don't keep the friends who bring you down, You really don't need that and the benefits no longer outweigh the drawbacks.

You know what I mean, the friends who only call when they need something, the ones who make you feel bad when you fail and worse when you succeed. The friends who encourage you to do things you actually don't want to do and discourage you from growing as a person.

Focus your time and effort on your high-quality friends. It's not about quantity anymore.

Keep active and eat well.

Basic advice can be trickier to implement than it seems. The path of least resistance is to grab the soda on the end cap at the store and to skip the gym because you're tired today. And it's really easy to rationalize *just for today* without recognizing what's become a pattern.

It always seems like there's tomorrow until the body gives out, and once that happens it can be a vicious cycle. Have seen people's knees start to go by their mid-twenties. Have seen people go through three back surgeries in their thirties. Have seen heart attacks end it before age fifty.

So two tips:

Find a sport you really enjoy. Once you find the sport you love, dig into the wallet for good equipment. This isn't a frivolous expense: it's an investment in yourself.

Learn to cook from scratch. You don't have to graze on "superfoods" from kale to purple cauliflower to whatever else is the fad this year. Instead, eat mostly healthful things and go light on the treats. This shouldn't feel blah: if something tastes like cardboard then don't eat it. Just aim for a reasonable balance and try to make the reasonable stuff tasty.

Don't take yourself too seriously, whatever you do you'll probably look back ten years later mildly mortified at how deep you thought you were.

You're just another confused human not destined for greatness and there's no grand scheme in which you matter one bit, so just chill.

If you have issues with your self confidence and depend on the validation of others, adress that s**t by whatever means are available to you. Nobody is going to do it for you and being insecure gets old fast.

Take care of your health. Wear sunscreen.