I've been in somewhat of a crestfallen mood as of late and I think it's in part due to feeling so lost in the world. What do I really want? What does a happy life look like to me? What do I want to achieve before I die?

I was hoping some of you folks could impart any lessons you've learned, or pieces of advice you have amassed and especially what advice would you give to your younger self, or to the fledgling lives of young advlts?

Sorry if this seems weird

*slap upside the head*

Stop smoking you damn idiot!!

Stop taking all those [censored] pictures and enjoy the moment instead...


Trust me, you'll never look at them... Ever.

Life is all about happiness. And my happiness comes from family. That's it. I'd do anything for them, because I love them so much. I also love my friends. And I love making strangers and new people feel better! Warms my heart to make life worthwile. (Religion is also huge for me, but I won't get into that out of respect to the rules.)


My life is made worthwile because of others, not myself.


Edit: I should point out that I am mostly introverted but also empathetic. A weird combo which means I don't like to seek attention, but I love when others are happy. Selfless, you might call it. But that's idealizing myself too much.


---


Now. To my younger self: Stop thinking so much and just do something already! (Mostly in regards to girls. But I've grown in that regard. Women, they call them now! Can you believe it?)

Assert yourself.

My advice to my younger self?


Life is action, a verb. Stop thinking and start doing.

I can see there are a lot of thinkers on the forums.

Well I myself am a writer. If I could have started earlier in life instead of perpetual brainstorming that'd be great.

Don't listen to anything your older self tells you.

This is quite possibly the easiest philosophical question for me to answer ever.

"Don't go wandering in the woods at your bachelor's party, or you'll fall, break your back and ruin your life you moron".

Really, really easy. LOL

When I turned 18 I would show up and say," here kid play these 6 numbers."

Stop caring about what you mean to others. Start caring about what they mean to you.

I'll bite. How'd you do that?

The same advice I try to give myself now:


Chill out, stop worrying.

Oh wow! Yeah I could see that being a top pick.

Wow, lots of good replies, and I'd agree with a few for myself.

Listen up boy...those "silly old farts".....know what they are talking about! (From a stupid kid who thought he knew better....but didn't. Why do I have to learn things the hard way?)

1. Workout now when your body is young and growing, as it is harder to grow the body you want when you're older.

2. If you're going to be a criminal, do it now so you can either A.) be really good at it later in life so you don't get caught or B.) if you get caught, get caught now instead of later in life.

3. Stick to one sport, your knees will last longer. Competitiveness is great, longevity is better.

Hang in there, it'll get better.

Pretty much exactly how I typed it ^^. I was drunk(Everclear and Bacardi 151), as were several of my friends, we decided to go out and explore the woods behind my buddy's house. At one point I got ahead of them and the flashlight, took a few steps and was fine, took another and I was freefalling through 40 feet of air to land on top of a small rock the size of a basketball on top of a large rock the size of a car. Crushed three verterbrae in my spine, messed up the discs in that region and two clusters of nerves are pinched. Probably wasn't helped by the fact that my friends were to drunk to even help me, I had to crawl a mile up-hill to get back to my friends house, with them around me going "Ehh you'll be ok man, I've fallen down before, it hurts but you get over it".

"The less you care about what other people think, the happier you will be."

"Every social interaction can be made memorable by the introduction of sword play"

Above, i agree with so much, parents included. You need to make sure your happy and not unhappy and depressed, and to hell with others its your life not theirs.

Dont dwell on the past, if you didnt do something or missed something its gone, and its a memory, better to use it as a learning experience for the future, than rerunning it over and over.

Listen to people who have had more experience in something, than thinking you know better.

One thing i taught myself early, every moment of everyday is a learning experience, dont ignore something that could be important to you later in life no matter how insignificant it may seem at the time or how stupid strangely enough it may save your life later on.

If someone is completely unselfish and wants to help you, accept it, if they just want to be nice and have no expectation of a return take what you can get, but its still nice, to do something nice whether they expect it or not. optional before anyone comments.

If something is annoying you, dont persist walk away, its just another form of stress which you dont need in your life, or if its something you can do something about, put your best pair of steel capped boots on and stomp on it till it stops annoying you.

Dont let the pressures of society to feel as though need to get married and have children, if you find a partner and you know it will make you happy and its mutual fine, but let it be your personal choice, same as children, your bringing human life into the world, just because you can doesnt mean you should, unless you know this is what you want, and that, that child is not a pet, dont look back on it later and think i shouldnt have done this, take it seriously.