The following is from one of our famous journalists, Regina Brett, who is 57. I think all of you will enjoy it!
- Regina Brett’s (Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist) 45 life lessons and 5 to grow on
To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.
It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written.
My odometer rolls over to 50 this week, so here’s an update:
1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.
16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.
17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.
18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.
19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Overprepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: “In five years, will this matter?”
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
35. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
36. Growing old beats the alternative – dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.
38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
41. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
42. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
45. The best is yet to come.
46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
48. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
49. Yield.
50. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.
Warmly,
Marianna
Books suggested to read by Erica Baumeister: I love her books so I want to read some of these books...it feels like we would have the same sort of taste...if I love her work!
The Art of Eating – MFK Fisher
The Awakening – Kate Chopin
Baby – Patricia McClachlan
Bel Canto – Ann Patchett
Beloved – Toni Morrison
Blackbird House – Alice Hoffman
The Blind Contessa’s New Machine – Carey Wallace
Broken For You – Stephanie Kallos
Chocolat – Joanne Harris
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant – Anne Tyler
Emma–- Jane Austen
Enchanted April – Elizabeth von Armin
Garlic and Sapphires – Ruth Reichl
The Giant’s House–- Elizabeth McCracken
The Girl in Hyacinth Blue – Susan Vreeland
Guernica – Dave Boling
Here at Eagle Pond – Donald Hall
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
The Language of Baklava – Diana Abu-Jaber
The Lottery and Other Stories – Shirley Jackson
The Madonnas of Leningrad – Debra Dean
My Family and Other Animals – Gerald Durrell
A Natural History of the Senses – Diane Ackerman
Olive Kitteridge – Elizabeth Strout
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake – Aimee Bender
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek – Annie Dillard
A Room With A View – E.M. Forster
West with the Night – Beryl Markham
The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gilman
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