Advice From Older Folks To Younger Ones

"Respect your elders" — I'm sure we've all heard this phrase a few thousand times in our lives so far. But the phrase exists for a reason, and I like to think it's because our elders know things about life that us youths may not. Sure, not every person over the age of 40 has a boundless well of knowledge and wisdom, but people older than you have experienced more things in life and can usually offer some pretty solid perspectives. I would imagine that's why one Reddit user asked the Reddit community for some advice from older people to younger ones.

The answers themselves may not exactly surprise you, but the overall theme of the responses may. Basically, older people think younger people need to chill out. Which is kind of ironic considering it's precisely the older authority figures in our lives such as teachers, parents, bosses, etc. who had us freaking out in the first place about getting older and having more responsibilities. So basically, the elders of Reddit have some advice on what we all need to stop worrying about. Below are some of the best responses from the thread.

1. Getting Older

And then you get to shake your fist at the kids and yell at them to get off your lawn!

2. Being Single

Can somebody please tell this to my dad so he stops pestering me every time I see him? I'm not even 25 yet!

3. Being Successful

That's not to say that you should not worry or aspire to be successful, but don't let that worry consume you.

4. Money

A lot of commenters echoed this sentiment. Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy experiences you'll treasure forever. Don't be totally irresponsible, but figure out what's worth spending money on and then go do it without feeling guilty.

5. That Thing You Spent All Of 10th Grade English Learning

Yeah, I was an English major and I can't even say I ever really got the hang of diagramming sentences. But you had better believe I still take grammar seriously.

6. Being Likable

"Be yourself" sounds so cliché, but it's really true.

7. All The Catastrophic Events The News Is Trying To Get Us To Freak Out Over

Climate change aside — we should be taking that threat a little more seriously, as the commenter below points out — there are a ton of events that are probably not worth losing sleep over. Remember swine flu? Exactly.

8. Ditto To The Above

Yeah, why were we afraid of Y2K again? Because the computers wouldn't know to switch to 2000? Being afraid of things we can't prevent (and that probably won't be as bad as we fear they will be) is exhausting.

9. Breakups

Exactly this. When I broke up with my first boyfriend, my parents' response was basically, "Meh." At the time I was kind of mad at them for not being sympathetic, but in retrospect, I totally get it. I was in high school. It was really not the end of my life, as evidenced by the fact that I am still here writing about it today. As Drake says, "When a good thing goes bad, it's not the end of the world; it's just the end of the world that you had with one girl."

10. One Piece Of Advice That's Not About Worrying

This just happened to me for the first time a few months ago. It was really sobering to come to the realization that our parents are just people like us, trying their best but not having all the answers. They try to teach us the tools so we can take charge of our own lives.

Image: Tiago Muraro/Unsplash