#life-lessons
#life-lessons
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#personal-growth #parenting #aging #family-dynamics #friendship #support #wisdom #travel #mindfulness
#friendship
fromSilicon Canals
1 month agoRelationships
There's a certain type of friendship you only appreciate in your 50s and 60s - the one where you can sit in the same room for an hour without talking and not feel like anything needs to be filled, and the fact that you can be completely unproductive in each other's company is the exact thing that makes it valuable, because most relationships require performance and this one doesn't - Silicon Canals
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
1 month agoThere's a certain type of friendship you only appreciate in your 50s and 60s - the one where you can sit in the same room for an hour without talking and not feel like anything needs to be filled, and the fact that you can be completely unproductive in each other's company is the exact thing that makes it valuable, because most relationships require performance and this one doesn't - Silicon Canals
Friendships that truly support you in later life often form in adulthood, not childhood, and thrive in shared silence and presence.
Writing
fromSilicon Canals
3 weeks agoMy dad never asked anyone for help in his life. I used to think he was cold. Now I think nobody ever came when he needed them, so he stopped needing anyone - Silicon Canals
Self-reliance is a learned response to the realization that help may not always be available.
Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
1 month agoPsychology says the reason self-improvement feels harder after 60 isn't diminished capacity - it's that for the first time you can't use the future as a consolation prize, which means you have to want the change for its own sake, right now, which is actually the only reason it ever worked - Silicon Canals
Self-improvement becomes urgent after sixty as the future feels limited and the time for change is now.
Parenting
fromSilicon Canals
1 month agoI'm 66 and the thing that broke me open this year was not a loss or a diagnosis or anything large - it was my grandson falling asleep on my chest on an ordinary afternoon, his whole small weight trusting me completely, and I sat there unable to move and understood that this is what all of it was for, not the career or the mortgage or the decades of doing the right thing, just this, just him, just now - Silicon Canals
Life's true value lies in small moments with loved ones, not in achievements or material success.
#personal-growth
fromSilicon Canals
1 month agoRetirement
I'm 66 and here's the one thing I'd tell my 30-year-old self - the life you keep postponing until you've earned it, finished it, or figured it out is not waiting for you at the end of the list, it is the list, and every item you check off before you let yourself begin is another year of your actual life spent preparing to live a different one - Silicon Canals
Retirement
fromSilicon Canals
1 month agoI'm 66 and here's the one thing I'd tell my 30-year-old self - the life you keep postponing until you've earned it, finished it, or figured it out is not waiting for you at the end of the list, it is the list, and every item you check off before you let yourself begin is another year of your actual life spent preparing to live a different one - Silicon Canals
Life is happening now; waiting for the right moment to live only leads to missed opportunities.
#aging
Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
1 month agoPsychology explains the reason some people grow sweeter with age while others grow bitter has nothing to do with how hard their life was - it's about whether they learned to grieve their losses or hoard them - Silicon Canals
Aging can lead to either bitterness or sweetness, depending on how one processes life's hurts and losses.
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Mindfulness
fromSilicon Canals
2 months agoI asked my mother what she thinks about when she looks at old photographs of herself and she said "I think about how worried I was and how little of it mattered" - and the simplicity of that sentence from a woman who spent decades carrying everything has been sitting in my chest for three weeks because it contains a permission I'm not sure I'm brave enough to take yet - Silicon Canals
Worry often consumes energy without yielding significant outcomes, highlighting the importance of action over inaction.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
2 months agoI'm 66 and I finally stopped being available to everyone all the time-not because I became selfish, but because I realized that being needed and being valued are two completely different things, and I had been confusing them for fifty years - Silicon Canals
Being constantly available and useful to others does not equate to being valued; true value comes from relationships where people seek your company beyond practical needs.
fromSilicon Canals
2 months agoI kept a list of things I wanted to tell my children when they were old enough and by the time they were old enough I realized half the list was wrong - and the half that was wrong taught me more about who I'd become as a parent than the half that still held true - Silicon Canals
The stuff I thought mattered that really didn't. Top of my list, written in all caps and underlined twice: 'ALWAYS FINISH WHAT YOU START.' I hammered this into my boys from day one. Didn't matter if it was Little League, a school project, or learning to wire a three-way switch. You start it, you finish it. No exceptions. Know what that actually taught them? That being miserable was more important than being smart about your choices.
Parenting
fromSilicon Canals
2 months agoI'm 66 and I finally stopped trying to impress people who were never actually paying attention - and the silence taught me that most of what I thought mattered was just performance anxiety dressed up as ambition - Silicon Canals
I spent forty years trying to impress people who probably forgot my name five minutes after I left their house. That's a hell of a thing to admit at sixty-six. But there it is. I've been retired for a couple years now, and the quiet has taught me things I was too busy to learn when I was running around with a van full of wire and a head full of worry.
Miscellaneous
Parenting
fromSilicon Canals
2 months ago9 things a truly good father does without ever needing to be asked-and most people only recognize them after he's gone - Silicon Canals
Good fathers demonstrate love through consistent, quiet actions rather than words, fixing problems proactively and remembering what matters to each family member.
Retirement
fromSilicon Canals
2 months ago9 things every man who worked a trade for 30+ years knows about retirement that white-collar retirees usually learn the hard way - Silicon Canals
Tradesmen understand retirement challenges better than office workers because physical labor teaches lessons about body maintenance, purpose, and identity that desk jobs delay until retirement arrives.
Relationships
fromBusiness Insider
2 months agoMy 99-year-old grandma taught me important lessons about the power of silence, change, and living a good life
Grandma Jackie demonstrated that meaningful love transcends distance and requires few words, teaching the power of silent appreciation and presence over constant communication.
Arts
fromwww.theguardian.com
4 months agoBe More Bird by Candida Meyrick review less soaring avian self-help than a parroting of tired cliches
Bird, a Harris hawk, embodies vivid inner life and precise physical needs, forming twenty concise life lessons that contrast anthropomorphism with natural fact.
Chicago
fromBusiness Insider
9 months agoI'm 81 and work at Trader Joe's to help pay off $70,000 in debt and launch a business. I don't want to be treated like I'm an old person.
Dianne Michels works at Trader Joe's while building a consulting business to pay off $70,000 in debt and support her ambitions.
fromBusiness Insider
10 months agoI was unsure about my relationship of 8 months. A couple I met on a cruise gave me the advice I needed.
"As soon as we boarded the cruise ship, we began noticing strange details. Chipping paint, broken deck chairs, torn sun umbrellas. Above deck, the ride was choppy at best, and people all around us were getting seasick."
Relationships
Higher education
fromWashingtonian - The website that Washington lives by.
10 months agoGayle King on Giving Her First Commencement Speech at UMD
Gayle King reflects on her commencement speech experience at the University of Maryland, emphasizing personal connections and the importance of meaningful messages.
fromBuzzFeed
10 months agoPeople Are Sharing The Harsh Life Lessons That Hit Them Like A Truck Once They Reached Adulthood
You will have to make very practical (sometimes very cold) decisions about what you want from life and what you're willing to give up. And if you don't make them, then life will make them for you.
Relationships
fromBusiness Insider
11 months agoMy parents have been married for 53 years. Their marriage has taught me that conflict is healthy and that it's OK to have different interests.
My parents showed me that even with different interests and conflicts, a marriage can thrive through shared values like love, learning, and family.
Parenting
Relationships
fromEntrepreneur
11 months agoRay Dalio Taught Me Everything I Needed to Know About Money - By Talking About Death | Entrepreneur
Ray Dalio emphasizes that money cannot shield one from pain and loss, highlighting the importance of meaningful relationships and reflection in overcoming grief.
fromIrish Independent
11 months ago'Be stubborn with your ambition, but flexible about how you get there' - Irish celebrities on their Leaving Cert experience
"I was a musician and I suppose, really, I always wanted to get into performance. But I didn't realise it - and that's a big problem too..."
Higher education
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