Things people have said that stuck with you

[Corneliusthecamel]

Was recently chatting to a colleague - a lovely, kind, cheery woman who is always smiling. I asked her what her secret was, how she’s always so cheerful and upbeat. She shrugged and said ‘if you keep waking up and don’t love the thought of your plans, try something else!’

Honestly, it was such a simple statement (and obviously hugely unpractical in reality sometimes, haha) but she had a point!

Also reminds me of when my Nan gave up smoking after 50 odd years - I asked her how she’d managed it as it must be so tough after all that time, she just said ‘I just tell myself that I simply mustn’t have one, and that’s that’

Brilliant! What’s yours?

It's a Long Road with no Turning.

No amount of guilt can change the past and no amount of anxiety can change the future

life meets nobody half way, if you want something you have to go out and get it! said to me and friend when travelling by a very drunk Australian man. he may have been as pissed as a newt but he made a valid point and I've always remembered that advice.

But niche but I’m in recovery and someone saying “if you don’t have the first drink you can’t get drunk” was a massive lightbulb moment: I had to stop trying to moderate and instead just stop!

My friend said to me “I love sleeping, it’s my favourite thing to do, so I go to bed as soon as I’m tired”

I was a massive sleep procrastinator and it was a massive revelation even though it’s really obvious!

I once read some excellent advice on the back of a toilet door! Someone had stuck an advert for an easy way to make money, hand written beneath words to live by: ‘If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!’ 😆
I saw this Hannah Fry video here - I like the words so much I have made them my phone screen saver.

A good friend of my mum's said to me about kids "you have to let them live in their time" which I thought was very wise.

You are not a tree. You can move and change your situation x

And recently, 'get yourself a good car and get out of here'

Life is really hard. My father said that to me once and I’ve never forgotten it.

Someone told me once ' its not worth falling out over money '

Obviously if someone has stolen your life savings then its worth fighting to get them back, but its not worth getting consumed with bitterness because someone has benefited more from a will than you have... etc etc.

Look after the edges and the middle will look after itself

My Grandma used to say this and that it applies to everything from mental health and buttering bread

“You can do anything for 30 seconds”

I'm not a royalist at all, but I remember prince philip saying he wanted to make life just a little bit more tolerable for people (in reference to a charity talk I think).

At first I thought it was odd as surely he should be saying about how wonderful, inspiring life is etc.

But then I thought, no, he's right. Life is bloody hard. Let's make it a bit more tolerable. Smile. Say hello. Buy someone a coffee.

'Its never too late to have a happy childhood '. This was in reference to the power of therapy to help adults deal with a difficult upbringing. I found that pretty revelatory.

Also
There are no wrong decisions. Just decide, and make that the right decision.

A friend's dad said this when I was 19 and worried about picking the wrong university.

This is great advice, especially the second bit. I quite often go to bed early if everything has turned a bit shit. There's something about lying in a snug, safe warm bed that always makes me feel better.
Also, after lots of sleep I always deal much better with stress the day after.

If nothing ever changed there’d be no butterflies 🦋

I love this thread! Very inspiring. When I used to work in a very busy and stressful ICU, I always reminded myself that I was capable of anything in 12hrs, and the shift would eventually come to an end, and then I could rest. Something that I said to myself rather than someone telling me, but it helped. Similarly I have read so much advice on here re babies, and the jist is: this too shall pass, you just have to have patience.

Never make career decisions on the basis of people. People come and go but you are stuck with yourself.

That you’re living (the) dream…it might not be yours, but it’s someone’s.

Is my no. 1 go to strategy: it’s so useful because it’s always 100% true.

I was nervous about something (an exam? An interview? I forget!) and my husband said ‘just pretend you aren’t’ and it has really stuck with me.

An ex boss said to me ‘your problem is you try to win arguments by being right - and you usually are right. But the way to win arguments is by making people want you to win’ So true.

Some of these are lovely!

Shit floats to the top (workwise management)