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Is advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young?

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Who remembers this?

If you don’t, “Everybody’s free to wear sunscreen” is a reworked form of an essay by Chicago Tribune journalist, Mary Schmichentitled: “advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young”. It was re-released by famed Australian film director Baz Lurhmann in 1999 as a music video. A comment on the youth of today, it considers issues from politics to beauty. But how true are the lyrics?

Our favourite entrepreneur, Jodie Cole, MD of JC Social Media, gives us her take on the video below. Each sentence of the song is depicted in bold and Jodie’s responses are italicised. Get ready to feel inspired by advice that certainly won’t be wasted on the young…

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience…I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh never mind, you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.

But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.

You’ll only feel this if you A) let yourself go and B) miss opportunities. Stay fabulous forever and don’t let anything pass you by.

You’re not as fat as you imagine. Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum.

If you think you’re fat, eat less and move more. Don’t worry about the future but make sure you put the steps in place NOW to make it worry-free.

The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday. Do one thing everyday that scares you.

Soon, nothing will scare you.

Sing. Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours. Floss.

You should be just as high up on other people’s priority lists as they are on yours. If it’s anything less, don’t put up with it.

Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.

You’re never ahead or behind as it’s not a race. You’re not competing with other people; you’re trying to make the best of your own life. 

Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Don’t listen to the insults – the people who give them are just jealous. 

Keep your old love letters; throw away your old bank statements.

Switch to paperless banking. Save the planet.

Stretch.

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.

When are you happiest? Find a way of getting paid for doing something you love and you’re laughing.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Get plenty of protein, too.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary.

Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.

Your choices aren’t half chance at all; it’s only YOU that shapes your future. The harder you work the more ‘luck’ you will have.

Enjoy your body, use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.

Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Just watch the chandeliers when you whip your hair back and forth.

Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.

Your sat nav will let you down. Look around you.

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Never let anyone or anything make you feel ugly. 

Get to know your parents – you never know when they’ll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings, they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on.

Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Your friends will help to keep you sane. That’s important.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders. Respect your elders.

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse, but you never know when either one might run out.

The world doesn’t owe you anything; it’s up to you to work out your strengths and use these to learn how to look after yourself.

Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you’re 40, it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

Or avoid advice all together. There is usually 1000 different ways of doing any one thing, and you will learn much better from your own mistakes than from anyone else’s.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

Huge thanks to Jodie – we think she should film this as 21st century update! In the meantime, here’s the original:

Image credit: Jason Hargrove 

Is advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young? is a post from: Professionelles | Career profiles & style info for young professionals

The post Is advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young? appeared first on Professionelles | Career profiles & style info for young professionals.


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