Life lesson, a lesson about life, if you will

So, I've been developing a life philosophy.
You know. In my spare time.

Not sure philosophy is the right word to describe it, but I've got none better for the job, so....

Over 40+ years of life, I've honed, refined, whittled away until I ended up with this simple statement.

"Be kind to one another"?
"Use Sunscreen"?
"Stop and smell the roses"?

Good guesses, all, and all of them incorrect.
(I prefer the smell of lilacs, by the way)

Here it is.

your average day starts to go downhill, the moment you put on pants.

Take a moment, re-read it if you need to. I can wait.

You wake up in the morning. You're in bed.
You're.....happy there. It's a happy place.
You get up, shuffle around for a little while.
There's coffee; some scratching; a stop off at the bathroom, maybe a nice shower.

Things are going well for you. And you've not yet committed to screwing this up for yourself.

Another cookie, perhaps, to dunk in your coffee?
Why yes, thank you, that would be lovely.

But at some point, it becomes decision time. Make or break, do or die.
"Am I going to put these pants on, and venture forth into my daily grind?"

Choosing "Pants" means leaving your house.

There's risk, all the sudden.
Traffic
co-workers
bullies
peer pressure
stress
germs
failure
bad lighting
etc, etc, etc

By putting those pants on, you're opening yourself up to the possibility of danger, disappointment, and peril.
Maybe your day will be ok.
You don't know.
But you DO know you're day's going pretty darn well so far....

My daughter's two years old, and she's already starting to get it.
She'll walk into our bedroom in the morning, where she'll notice my clothes laid out on the bed.
"Daddy's pants?"
yep.
"Daddy goes to work?"
yeah..........

No wonder she's so adamant about her "naked" (no pants) time in the morning.
Fight it for as long as you can, darlin'.

tips for graduating seniors

Here's a great tip for all you college aged folks out there, who will probably never read this.

Do not graduate first.

Yep, that's all I got. I could tell you all to wear sunscreen, and falsely attribute this pearl of wisdom to a dead writer, but... that's been done.
While in college, you will gather to you a group of people that will likely be with you for the rest of your life. Gathering them is a fun and rewarding experience, that should NOT be documented on your myspace page.

(Does the word "Duh!" have any meaning to you? Geezus, anyone who wants to can find you on the 'net, see that embarassing picture of you passed out with someone elses' underwear on your head, or the photo captioned "me and the ganja gang" and it's bye-bye job opportunity. )



However, if you're the first to graduate out of your group of friends, you'll find that they may very well do something very disturbing, after you're gone.

It's entirely possible that they'll bring new people into their circle, without clearing them with you first. All the sudden, they're just...there.

Hey, you're young, you're not thinking long term, you're cool with it, and frequently, this can introduce you to new dating/scrumping opportunities, which always liven up a weekend spent back at your alma mater.

You don't know that your first impression was probably accurate, that they'll do nothing to endear themselves to you over the ensuing years, and in fact will frequently behave in such a manner as to achieve the very opposite effect. But they're now an intrinsic part of the group, and you find yourself wondering, year after year, what's gonna happen THIS year when everyone gets together, and what measures can you take to minimize impact.

It's just not worth it.
Stall, is all I can say.
Take fewer credit hours, work some internships into the mix, maybe take a term off to travel europe, or work on a cruise ship. But make sure that YOU are the one introducing new folks into the circle, after everyone else graduates. You'll thank yourself at least once a year for the rest of your life.