Did you know that according to Ipsos, a multinational market research and consulting firm, on average across 30 countries, two in three adults (67%) consider themselves “happy”?
A pretty decent number, isn't it?
Well, life is not always blissful. It loves to kick you in your bottom, and as a result, you often find yourself facing some serious obstacles and hardships.
Whether it’s work-related stress, responsibilities that you find overwhelming, situations that you have little to no control over, or perhaps you’re simply going through a period of uncertainty – most of the time, all you want to do is talk to someone who’ll be able to knock some sense back into you by offering you a piece of wise advice.
But here’s the catch, most of the advice is complete and utter garbage.
“What’s a common ‘life pro tip' that is actually bad advice?” – this web user took to one of Reddit’s most philosophical and enlightening communities, asking its members to offer their serious takes on the world’s poorest life advice. The thread managed to garner nearly 24K upvotes as well as 6.3K comments containing some pretty eye-opening statements.
More info: Reddit
#1
If a girl has declined to go out with you, that means you stop asking her. It’s not her playing hard to get, she just isn’t interested, unless she surprises you and says otherwise. So don’t follow the “If she says no, you’ve just gotta keep trying” b******t, just respect her boundaries.
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401points
#2
“You can do anything that you put your mind too.” No...you can’t. Not everyone is good at everything , and the sooner you make peace with your own limitations, the more successful you’ll become.
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365points
#3
“If you can’t love yourself you can’t love someone else”
Makes everyone with any mental illness feel unlovable and hopeless
Makes everyone with any mental illness feel unlovable and hopeless
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321points
#4
ABSOLUTELY DO SAVE BIRDS THAT FELL OUT OF THEIR NESTS! You're letting them die if you don't, their mom doesn't give a single s**t about their smell so please save them.
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310points
#5
“Never give up.” Sometimes you should give up. Sometimes you’ll try your best and it still won’t work out.
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284points
#6
"Just come out, even if your parents hate you it's better than being someone you're not!"
No. No nono noooooooooooo. Come out when it's *safe*. when you have somewhere else to live. You've faked it for this long, you can do a little longer and stay alive. It sucks, it hurts, it's a b***h and unfair, but you'll live.
Some parents realise they're jerks and become accepting, some realise they were too accepting and outright murder thier child. Be. Safe.
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274points
#7
"Always listen to your elders" and "Old people are smarter / wiser"
I don't care who you are, what relationship I have with you, or expecially how old you are. Anyone can be a dumbass.
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252points
#8
"You can't smell vodka."
Yes. Yes you can. And you reek of it.
Yes. Yes you can. And you reek of it.
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244points
#9
“Ignore the bullies and they’ll stop.”
This advice makes me want to slap a b***h. You are giving them and everyone who sees it permission.
Silence is acceptance. That is the real advice.
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224points
#10
Never go to bed angry
Sometimes you just need some time to chill the f**k out and ruminate in why you’re angry. Constantly talking about everything is what they show on TV, but if you don’t have time to process your feelings you can just end up fighting even more than if you just took a day to chill
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220points
#11
Anything that advises you to be a d**k to someone who seemingly doesn't deserve it.
"be macho, women love that s**t"
"Don't worry about your friend that says you're mean, he's a pussy"
"Your employer will appreciate you being agreessive and brutish"
As a general rule, being a d**k is rarely, RARELY a good idea
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219points
#12
"Looks don't matter."
No matter how confident you are with yourself it is inevitable that people will judge you based on your appearance.
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216points
#13
“If a boy is mean to you, it means he likes you”
No, it means he’s likely a bully and leads women to staying in abusive relationships because ‘he Loves me”
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211points
#14
“Just be happy” or “look on the bright side”. Great overall advice, but sometimes in the moment, it can be the absolute worst. Sometimes things just suck and we want to break down and cry. That’s okay. We shouldn’t be talked out of those emotions when we’re upset and obviously feeling low.
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184points
#15
"You can be *anything* you wanna be"
No, you can't. People with money *could* be anything they wanna be. The rest of us probably have to work really hard to *maybe* attain our goals if we are lucky.
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161points
#16
"If you can't handle me at my worst, you don't deserve me at my best."
Absolutely wrong and super self-centered. At our worst, we're all super s****y and our loved ones don't deserve that. Some may not be able to handle us at our worst due to their own life stress and mental health conditions. This is just a recipe for pushing important people away.
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156points
#17
"You should do some math before accepting a raise, because it might put you in the next tax bracket and you actually take home less money."
THAT'S NOT HOW TAX BRACKETS WORK.
Let's say the first tax bracket is $10,000 at 10%. That means you fork over $1,000 to Uncle Sam and take home $9,000.
For the sake of simplicity, let's assume the next tax bracket is 20%. You are offered a raise of $500, making your total income $10,500.
This does not mean *the entire $10,500* is taxed at that 20% rate!
That first $10,000 is taxed at 10%...then the remaining $500 in the next tax bracket is taxed at 20% (which is $100).
Out of that $10,500, you fork over $1100, and take home $9,400. You take home $400 more!
**Never reject a raise *just* because it puts you in the next tax bracket. There is no such thing as taking home less money because you are "in" a higher tax bracket.**
Edit: this is *only* about tax brackets. There are still plenty of good reasons to reject a raise - i.e. benefits cliffs, pay not matching new workload, etc. I'm just here to say that "losing money because you get taxed more" *is not one of them*, because that doesn't exist/that's not how the tax brackets work.
Edit 2: this is also specific to the U.S. Not commenting on other countries' tax structures.
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151points
#18
"I have an idea. [Propose, announce pregnancy, come out, announce divorce] at [name]'s [wedding, funeral, birthday, birthing, reception, graduation].
No. You are stealing their attention and ruining it. If you do that, that is selfish.
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150points
#19
"Just be yourself" "you're perfect just the way you are" and "never let anyone change you" are double edged swords preventing many people from growing out of horrid habits or bad personality traits.
If a lot of people are telling you to change your behavior, chances are you're gonna f**k up your life if you dont pay attention.
146points
#20
There's no real catchy way to put it, but the sentiment that your life revolves around your job. You don't have to have a "career" or be ultra-successful in your field. You just have to have a job that lets you earn enough money to enjoy your life and achieve all the things you want to do outside of work.
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130points