Advice to our daughters
From the deep stuff about true love and money, to the simply practical stuff like sorting laundry and how-not-to-forget-where-you-parked… there’s some advice worth passing down to our children.
Have those difficult conversations
Some subjects are not easy to talk about. But we should talk about them all the more. The tougher the topic, the more important it is to face it. Because the internal turmoil caused by a repressed conversation is directly proportional to the discomfort of facing it.
Ask for help
Sometimes three little words can make a massive difference. I’m talking about the words: ‘I need help’. It’s okay to ask for help when you need it.
Dress to express, not to impress
Dress to express yourself. It’s not about impressing others. It’s about feeling comfortable in your own clothes… in your own skin.
Wear the red lipstick
If you want to wear red lipstick - wear it. If you like the feeling, do it again. If you don’t like it, you would have tried. No regrets.
You don’t have to be happy all the time
Being happy all the time is not realistic. It’s a burden. Don’t allow yourself to be burdened by this unrealistic expectation of constant happiness.
You can walk away.
A man who hits you – does not love you. A man who wants to break you – does not love you. A man who wants to humiliate you, control you and make you feel small and worthless - does not love you. This is not love. It’s abuse. To the women in these relationships, the message is: you can walk away.
You don’t need thick skin. You need a filtering mind.
Rather than growing a thick skin that allows all emotions to bounce off us, what we need to do is develop a filtering mind: one that sieves through comments and actions that are purposely hurtful and understands them and treats them for what they are.
Small steps matter… and deserve to be celebrated
The world celebrates big things: successful people, big ideas, giant leaps. The little stuff does not get the credit it deserves. But the big stuff is often made of lots of little things.
If you really want to do it… say it out loud!
If you really want to do it… say it out loud!
Where there’s smoke… there could be a smoke machine
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire? Not always. Sometimes it’s not so drastic. There could be… a smoke machine.
‘No’ is a complete sentence
No is a complete sentence. You do not need to justify why you don’t want to do something. Self-boundaries are important.
There’s a lot of everything out there… but only one ‘you-view’
There’s a lot of everything out there. Don’t let that put you off from adding ‘you’ to the mix.
When something’s too hard, break it… down
When something looks too hard, break it down. The smaller, more manageable, pieces will become your building blocks.
There are rainbows at your fingertips
There are rainbows at your fingertips. All you have to do is look for the light and see the colours around you.
It’s not always personal
This is all about perspective. There will be times in life when people are rude, abrupt, mean etc. In most cases: this is not about you. So don’t take it personally. It’s not you, it’s them.
Take ‘memory tokens’
There are some moments in life when you feel: this is what true happiness feels like. How can you capture that moment? One way is to take a ‘memory token’.
Growing up - scary movies get scarier, adverts make you cry
As you grow older you do not become immune to scary movies. On the contrary. With age you will discover a whole spectrum of emotions during the weirdest of on-screen moments - like during adverts.
It’s NOT okay to be mean to others
It’s never okay to be mean to others. No matter what medium you are using: you should never write something to or about someone you would not say to their face. And it’s not okay to say things that are hurtful just because you can.
Don’t pretend you understood something you didn’t
Don’t pretend that you understood something when you did not. It’s okay to ask questions.