Advice for an 18 year old

Someone recently asked:  If you were to give an 18-year-old one specific piece of wisdom, what would it be?  My answer would be that it would be wise to value entertainment much, much less.

There is room for entertainment but it should not be all consuming.  In fact, it would be best to work on yourself at this point in your life.  Put time and money into experiences and education.  Become something.  Don't just sit there watching and observing someone else's life and adventures.  Get out there, get in the game, and create your own story.

My wish is that every 18-year-old would value entertainment less and his or her own life more.

Buy business cards

I resisted getting my own business cards for a long time.  My thought was that I did not want another expense and I did not see them as useful.  But after spending the twenty-some dollars to have them made up, I was delighted to carry them around and hand them out when appropriate.  People accepted them readily and the transaction was very fulfilling.

It may sound weird but you yourself are a business.  You are a service to someone, somewhere.  And what you do generates economic activity.  Your life force does that.  Since you are a business, you should act like one.  Businesses have business cards.  Use a little imagination, spend the few dollars, and get some made up.  I know I am glad that I did.

By the way, I used Vistaprint for my cards and was very happy.

Subscribe to a magazine

At the beginning of the year, it seems like an appropriate time to start things.  Start a reading plan, start an exercise plan, start a personal growth plan.  We like new things and we like having done something for ourselves.

Here is a simple way to start something that will benefit you for the coming year.  Subscribe to a magazine.  Set yourself up to receive copies from home.  Magazines are usually focused on one area of interest.  Pick a hobby or something you would like to belong to and spend the thirty dollars.  Magazines can supplement your reading and make you more aware and more rounded.

In my house, my wife and I have subscribed to a magazine each in January.  Often times we mix it up and choose something entirely different the next near.  Magazines are an easy way to keep informed and to let others know what interests you.

Give yourself permission to do something for yourself today.  Pick an interest and subscribe to a magazine today.  That simple act can go a long way in building the life that you want.

Eat to weigh less

When you and I look around this country it is hard to over-look the serious weight issue we have here.  People are carrying excessive weight that in no way is healthy.  Their skeleton structure was never designed to haul so much.

It has been said before but I will say it again.  If you want to be thin, do what thin people do.  Ask someone who is trim what they do to stay that way.

Here are a few simple ideas on how to be more trim.

- Eat more fruit, vegetables, nuts, and beans.  All of these foods have fiber and will help you to feel full. Eating them will help keep that annoying hunger pang from always being there.
- Drink more water.  Stop drinking the soda pop, fruit juices, and beer.
- Do not eat after eight o'clock at night.  Eat three meals a day with two snacks (mid-morning and mid-afternoon).

I really feel bad for folks who are over weight.  It cannot be comfortable or helpful.  But to lose weight you have to eat better.  Simple as that.

We are all on one team

My heart grieves over the division that is so evident in our country.  We have allowed ourselves to be divided.  Yet I long for unity.  I want us to play well together.  We are neighbors.  We have a common history.  We want mostly the same things.

My message to my fellow man out there is:  We are all on one team.  I am not out here to take from you or to put you down or to hurt you.  I want to cooperate, I want us both to win, and I want to live in peace.

Let's hang together.  Let's pull together.  Let's build together.  We are walking the earth at a common  time in history.  May it be said that we had a love for each other.