Vital Advice We Should Learn From Our Grandparents

Truth be told, we are all lucky to have old people from previous generations offering us pieces of unsolicited advice to improve our daily lives and, hopefully, decrease chances of us regretting any major choices that we’ll have ended up making. Still, sometimes there’s a part of us that just won’t take in everything that they say mainly because we think “times have changed” or “we’re smarter.”

Here’s why we should step on our own egos and realize that we do, in fact, have a lot to learn from those who have lived before us. That said, below is a couple of specific pieces of advice that you may not have heard just yet. Yes, we’re not going to tell you to just “live your life to the fullest.” To ensure that you’ll end up living a better quality of life, it includes hard advice that you better take into heart. Give it a read — you’ll have nothing to lose but everything to gain!

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Love and Career

Throughout the course of our lives, we’d be more busy with our personal relationships and careers than anything else. They would end up in a never ending battle too, with us gaining more and more wrinkles as we consistently try to achieve some sort of balance between the two. Before we know it, we’d retire not feeling completely satisfied with our efforts.

But here’s that important piece of advice that will hopefully be able to bring you peace: Do what you love and love what you do. When it comes to work, no one will ever be able to find a job that they’ve love in all ways and forever. Instead, choose one that you love some days, can tolerate most days and still pays the bills. And while you’re earning, it’s always best to spend on experiences than material things — we have the rest of our lives to do that.

When we start having families and people depending on us, it’s not really the expensive, material things that we won’t ever be able to afford anymore but the chance to go places and make memories outside of our comfort zones. No one ever grows old wishing that they had worked more And finally, when you do find someone that you’re willing to spend your life with, trust them as best as you can.

Priorities

It’s usually 50 years later when each of us learn what really matters to each of us in life. Thankfully, our grandparents have pretty much figured out the universal things that we all need to prioritize over everything else. We already know that we would regret less about our past if we learned how to prioritize people and relationships over material things and jobs.

While you do that, don’t forget to give importance to true friends and the person who agreed to share their life with you. If you think about it, these very people are giving up big chunks of time that they’ll never have back to be there with and for you. The same goes for our parents who were obligated to spend not only time but extended effort in raising us the best way they can. And what have you done to thank them all for those lately?

Other things that you will need to remember is to make the most of the time you have with your children. Infancy and childhood is the shortest, most precious time in each of our lives and kids really do grow up way too fast!. Savor each fleeting moment because they’re only children once. Oh, and before we forget, better remember to pay your bills and stay out of debt! It’s one thing to live your life wishing you had done more and living most of your adult life in debt.

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Health Issues

We can always be young at heart. What we can never have back once we’ve hit our 60s is the body, muscles and strength that we used to have. Getting older physically definitely shows the permanent passing of time and one important piece of advice that our grandparents would give us is to take better care of ourselves in our youth.

There’s a fine — and often unnoticeable — line between that moment when we believe we can wait a little longer before finally living healthier for the sake of our maturing bodies and that following moment when when we realize that, oops, it’s probably too late to take care of my skin now that it’s all wrinkly. It’s easy not to care when we haven’t seen the results yet, but believe it or not, previously damaged joints can cause even bigger trouble in later life and dental problems are just the worst! So take your vitamins, possibly choose a less straining hobby and floss regularly. Consider them an investment!

Living in The Moment

Kids of today — yes, the millennials — probably won’t have to be told to make the most out of their lives because most of them already are. They’re definitely bolder and more courageous than generations before us, and the over-60s couldn’t be more prouder of them for it. These young adults don’t want to wake up realizing that they haven’t done the things they want to — they jump at chances to achieve dreams now. If they fail, at least they tried, and they don’t take life too seriously. They get back up and try again, and simply laugh at all the ridiculousness that life throws at them.

Such determined behavior definitely helps attract more positivity and success. And if you also avoid making assumptions about situations that you get yourself into and people that you meet along the way, you don’t restrict yourself and have this sense of openness based on the fact that we can never be fully knowledgeable about everything. By not categorizing people by race, gender, age and appearance, or assuming that we already know how even seemingly predictable situations are going to turn out, we avoid creating unfavorable scenarios with setbacks and bring more excitement into our daily lives.

Finally, there will always be people who will offer you advice. Do this and do that, because it’s natural for anybody to think that they know better about certain topics and situations. Then again, if you’re going to believe someone, it ought to be a person who’s been there and done that. So take every advice with a grain of salt, consider whether or not the source is credible and practice discernment in order to live life to the fullest. (Oops, we said it.)