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?

I was 18 and a reflexologist told me I should stop trying to control people, you can't control other people. I forgot about it for 20 years but now think of it often and how right she was.

If things don’t change they stay as they are.

Life’s not all progress, some of it’s just process. When I had v little kids - just knowing that dealing with what’s in front of you is OK.
also ‘it’s not a competition’ when you are having a tough time - it doesn’t mean none of your support network aren’t all struggling too. That helped, again, at the same time (no sleep / wrangling little ones etc)

When I was at uni, I was complaining to a girl how bad I was at picking up a dance routine in a show I was in. I have very poor co- ordination and was so embarrassed that everyone else was so stuck and skilled. She said, 'If you want to do something, it doesn't matter how long it takes to get good at it.'

That attitude changed my perception and I just decided to work much harder than everyone else until I caught up with them.

Before they were confident, they were brave.

Made me realise that confidence isn't something we're born with, but something we have to develop and practise. I'd never thought of it like that before.

Yes! I agree with this (and try and follow it!)

Im also fond of “this too, shall pass”

I do love this.

But, what if you’re working on a project at work that you know is going to be endless days and months of purgatory?

Any words of wisdom for that? 🤦‍♂️

DS said he overcame bad social anxiety when someone told him to ask himself: 'what would I do if I wasn't anxious? ' and then do that. It was hard and he didn't always manage it, but sometimes he did.

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

So take a big thing that's hard or boring and just do a little part of it. When you can't stand that any more, try another bit.

You have a 100% success rate of getting through the tough things.

Would you rather be right or effective? Because often if you insist on being right, you can't be effective.

You don't like everyone you meet, so stop expecting everyone you meet to like you.

My dad: "It's all part of life's rich tapestry": "It's a rum do"; ""You're born, you live, you die, you pay your taxes"; ""Doctors don't really know what these types of drugs (psychotropic) do to the brain, or how the brain really works"... (After I'd started antidepressants!)

That's it for now, I'm sure there are lots more gems from others somewhere!

I do this!!

"If a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing badly". (Exceptions for brain surgery, air traffic control, etc.)

"Do you know how old I will be by the time I learn to really play the piano / act / paint / write a decent play?" Yes . . . the same age you will be if you don't."

This lovely story reminds me of my Nana.
One day when I was little and staying with my grandparents at their cabin in the Sierras, some men in hard hats driving a big truck arrived and said they had to cut down a big tree that might fall on its own - and was dangerous.
My Nana was alarmed - she had been nursing a pine tree that had been growing out of the rocks for several years and fretted that the big tree would crush it. How any tree could possibly grow out of crack in a rock, I don’t know. But my Nana had faith.
She told the men in hard hats that she didn’t care about the cabin, she didn’t care about the porch or about the big rock wall - “just please don’t hurt my little tree.”
”Measure twice and cut once,” she told them.
And I guess they listened, because that gigantic tree fell right down the middle of the area between the cabins and only knocked a few rocks off the wall.
Measure twice and cut once.
And I have it written into my will that that’s where I want my ashes to be placed - under that great big pine tree.

Very true. I will have to make an effort to remember this, as i often think of escape.

In this vein, I remember a song lyric from the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat: "If you think it, want it, dream it, then it's real: you are what you feel" ❤️

And a quote from an episode of the X Files: "It's other people's opinions of us who make us who we really are"

Don't compare how you feel on the inside with how others seem on the outside.

If you want to see a rainbow, you have to have some rain.

(But also from my mother, "you're too selfish for anyone to love you.")

Something I heard someone say today. "Live simply so others can simply live"

"The only way out is through" was told to me by a friend's grandparent when we were children and it's one I draw on now, some 30+ years later. It's pushed me forwards a few times when I'm a bit stuck in life, tackling something that i'm putting off or simply procrastinating.

Holy shit this is wise. Though I might spend a lot of time eating in bed until I’m out the other side of menopause

Whenever I am anxious about something/not sure what to do in a given situation, I remember once being asked ‘what advice would you give a friend if they were having the same doubts/anxieties?’. It’s so true, and really makes me stop and think.

Don’t let a wishbone grow where a backbone should be

If you are always worried about what other people think, you will never be happy.

If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging

The only thing you can do about awful people is not to be one of them.

You accept the love you THINK you deserve

Not read them all, but the ones I have are fab.
DD12 hates Fridays at school, the only day I actually have to get her up - I say, it’s 1 day and the last day - you have 2 days off after this to recover.
my DM best advice - look after your girl friends as they will stick by you, men will come and go.