It’s been said that advice is only worth what you pay for it, and it’s also true that nothing comes for free. When asking for tips on a particular situation, then, it’s a good idea to find someone who has gone through it before and can hence speak from experience.
With this in mind, X user Sahil Bloom had a smart idea. In the month leading up to his 32nd birthday, he reached out to senior citizens to ask them for one piece of advice they’d give to their 32-year-old selves. Bloom then took to X to list the top 40 pearls of wisdom he received.
More info: X
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With the pace of modern technology, social media, and more news channels than ever before, it’s easy to dismiss the elderly as being out of touch. However, one thing that shouldn’t be forgotten is the wealth of knowledge these senior citizens have racked up over their long lives.
A lot of their wisdom has been hard won over a lifetime of experiences. They’ve been through a vast number of failures and successes, positioning them particularly well to divulge the truths of a life well-lived and lessons learned the hard way.
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A great deal of the advice in the X thread deals with things like avoiding regret, overcoming fear, improving the world for yourself and those around you, and seizing every day for all that it’s worth.
These fragments of wisdom are at once both thought-provoking and poignant and might have you questioning things. Topics dealt with include work, self-awareness, wellness, romance, and morality. One senior dispensed this gem: “Treat your body like a house you have to live in for another 70 years.”
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It doesn’t have to be perfect for it to be wonderful.
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Bloom’s 40-point list is a virtual treasure trove of keen insights and hard-won advice. Having mined the minds on these senior citizens, he’s uncovered wisdom that younger generations would do well to pay attention to. A recurring theme seems to be that one shouldn’t sweat the small stuff; too much time and energy is wasted on things that don’t actually matter that much in the end.
Another topic that came up was to be intentional about the people you choose to surround yourself with; it’s best to be around friends and loved ones that lift you up and inspire. One further piece of advice on this was to, “Never let a good friendship atrophy. Send the text, make the call, plan the trip. Good friendships must be treasured.”
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On experiencing the sheer joy of life, one senior said, “Laugh loudly and unapologetically whenever you feel like it.” This one rings so true; the world would be a better place with more laughter in it, don’t you agree?
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Turning to the elderly to find out what’s really important in life makes sense. Time is a teacher, after all. In an article for The New York Times, reporter John Leland writes that the population age 85 and up has been growing at five times the rate for the city as a whole, doubling since 1980 to about 150,000.
He goes on to say that a paradox of old age is that older people have a greater sense of well-being than younger ones - not because they’re unreservedly blissful, but because they accept a mixture of happiness and sadness in their lives, and leverage this mixture when events come their way. They waste less time on anger, stress and worry.
As Ping Wong, 90, put it: “When you’re young, the future is so far away, and you don’t know what will happen to you and the world. So when you’re young you have more worries than the elderly. But I don’t worry now.”
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Karl Pillemer, a Ph.D. gerontologist at Cornell University, has spent the last several years systematically interviewing hundreds of older Americans to collect their lessons for living. His first book, "30 Lessons for Living," synthesized advice from over 1,000 elders on topics like happiness, work, and health.
Says Pillemer, “Even though it sounds artificial, it's important for older people to record their own thoughts and memories, but it's really critical for younger people to ask them for them, and not just for stories, but for guidance and practical advice for living. I'm not against professional help. I think it's great. But sometimes people might go and ask the elders in their lives for advice on finding a meaningful career or improving a relationship first.”
Have you ever asked the elderly for advice on a pressing issue in your life? Did you find it meaningful or valuable? Let us know in the comments!
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