Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’97
Wear sunscreen
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be
it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by
scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
than my own meandering
experience…I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh never mind; you will not
understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.
But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and
recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before
you and how fabulous you really looked….You’re not as fat as you
imagine.
Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as
effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing
bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that
never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm
on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing everyday that scares you
Sing
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with
people who are reckless with yours.
Floss
Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes
you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with
yourself.
Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you
succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your
life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they
wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year
olds I know still don’t.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe
you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky
chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t
congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your
choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. Enjoy your body,
use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people
think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever
own..
Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.
Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
(Brother and sister together we'll make it through
Someday your spirit will take you and guide you there
I know you've been hurting, and I know I've been waiting to be there
for you. And I'll be there, just tell me now, whenever I can.
Everybody's free.)
Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for
good.
Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the
people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you
should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and
lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you
knew when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live
in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will
philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize
that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were
noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund,
maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one
might run out.
Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will
look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who
supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of
fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the
ugly parts and recycling it for more than
it’s worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen…
(Brother and sister together we'll make it through
Someday your spirit will take you and guide you there
I know you've been hurting, and I know I've been waiting to be there
for you. And I'll be there, just tell me now, whenever I can.
Everybody's free).
This song, made me realise.
So I've spent the last three days at Portia's, It was good to get away, from everything.
After staying up till 5:30am and then going into work for 10:30am for a six hour shift, I felt a little rough.
I have decided to exercise some form of self restraint.
I'm going back to my old 'party animal' ways, even though I'm enjoying it, I still find I'm feeling empty.
We have both sworn (by pinky promise) we are staying in this week. We need to do our uni work.
We started by taking a mini road trip (about 20 miles round trip) to Lidl to try and inspire us. Even though my mind didn't jump start into creations mode, I didn't come away empty handed, I bought £5 worth of delicious 'I'm depressed let me eat chocolate to my hearts content' food, oh and some cereal....
We finally watched the end of gossip girl, with £40 worth of dominos, we discovered not only end of the cardboard boxes, in which said delicious food was delivered, but also the end of the series.
It was sad, to say the least. I found the one thing I believed in most over the last four days was destroyed. Dan and Serena made me believe again, even if only for a little while. It made me realise that even the glorified, American drama soaps, never have happy endings. I start to wonder, can anyone really make it?
Do I even want to? Ive stopped trying.
I am proud to say I have tidied my room, even though my mind is still a mess, I felt I needed to have at least some form of organisation in my life, so it was my room that bit the bullet, as opposed to my spiralling self worth.
Since writing this, and having sworn by pinky promise a mere few minutes ago, I have already had an invitation extended to me to attend to the Antelope for bingo, pub quiz, and more than likely a few beers. Surely one more night out wouldn't hurt? it is after all, not the beginning of the new week yet.
Work was a nightmare, and tested my knew 'I shall be good' mind to the test, and I had to bite my lip quite severely. I can still feel the teeth grooves.
Ive had my heater on for some time now, and my room still feels like an igloo, my nose is a mini ice cube on the end of my nose and I cant even feel my toes. The only thing I can honestly say I'm enjoying right now, is my bumper pack of penguin bars, purchased and Lidl for a mere £1.
I'm going to climb into my oven now, hopefully the feeling in my feet will be quickly restored.
