2 posts tagged “sunscreen”

I've just learned that one of my favourite Voxers shares a birthday month with me. She'll be turning 21, whilst I'll be turning fifty-two. So for her and for every other younger woman on VOX, I've learned some valuable things about life, love and being female over the past half-century and I thought if I passed some of the more important ones on to you, maybe it will save you some precious time:

1) You are at least ten times prettier than you think you are. That holds true no matter how pretty you already think you are! Don't believe me? Ask your mother/auntie/grannie if she thought she was pretty when she was twenty. She'll say, "no." Then find a photo of her at that age. See what I mean?

2)The only thing you should be faking is confidence. If you don't have it yet, pretend you do. In every new situation, pretend you're not nervous, pretend you're not afraid. After a few times doing this, the pretend part disappears.

3) Want to try something new, like painting, skiing, running your own business? Go to the library and borrow ten different books on the subject. Skim through them all, find the ones that have the most vital information and study them. Then see number 2.

4) No matter how old you get, remember what it was like to be a nine-year old girl. Remember the feeling of freedom. If you've already forgotten, do a cartwheel. You can so still do one. Savour that feeling.  Wake up with it every day. You'll stay young until the day you die.

5) In the same vein, cut or potted flowers are never a waste of money. Because every time we glance at them, they remind us how much beauty there can be in the world.

6) Speaking of money, starting right this moment, whether you're twenty or sixty, you can change your finances around. Don't leave someone else completely in charge,whether it's your husband, partner, parents or banker. Become financially saavy.  Financial independence gives you the freedom to walk away from many bad situations. How do you know you're in  bad situation? See number seven.

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7) If your stomach hurts and you haven't got a virus, you're in a bad situation. Before you know what it is, your stomach always does. Give yourself some time to ponder what it might be that's making your stomach hurt. Chances are you already do know, you just don't want to believe it, for some reason. You can ignore advice from your friends, even your own brain, but you can't ignore your stomach, because the stomach never lies. Oh, and by the way? - Drowning your stomach in alcohol won't make it stop telling you the truth, either.

8) When meeting someone new and he or she seems to be behaving like an assh*le, show compassion first. If after you display your sincere compassion, they are still acting like an assh*le, walk away. If they follow you, call the police.

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9) Wear sunscreen on your face, neck and hands every day, winter and summer. I don't care how dark your skin naturally is. Wear it. You'll remember me when you look in the mirror at age fifty. Always keep in mind that Your body is directly connected to your spirit. Look after your body. Exercise, floss and brush your teeth. Put nothing in your body that can permanently harm your spirit, including the wrong man.

10) And if you are in bed with a man and he's the right man - meaning your stomach doesn't hurt, he's smiling at you, he knows your name, he's not drunk and neither are you- for goddsakes- enjoy yourself. He is not at all thinking about how fat your thighs look.

[Note: This piece was retitled "Ten Things I'd Tell My Younger Self," by vibrantnation.com, divinecaroline.com and others....]

Patricis Pondering

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1. The football quarterback you sighed over all through high school English class, will usually be the first guy to go bald, get fat and have a bypass. You won’t recognize him at your tenth-year high school reunion.

2. Generally speaking, teachers, doctors, clergy and police officers are no smarter, no more compassionate, trustworthy nor dedicated to their work, than the rest of the population. Sometimes they’re even less so.

3. You should judge who your true friends are not only by the sympathy they express when something very bad happens to you, but by the genuine joy they express when something very good happens to you.

4. The Captain and Tenille were wrong. “Love” won’t keep you together. A mortgage you can’t pay on one salary, might do it for a while.

5. If you love a man because he’s strong, brave and has all the answers, you’re doing him and yourself an injustice. If he still makes your heart flip through the times he’s scared, aching or unsure, you’ve both got something good going on.

6. The sexy butterfly tattoo you get when you’re twenty, will just look like a misshapen bruise when you’re sixty.

7. The physical effects of cigarettes, alcohol, McDonald’s twice a week and lack of sunscreen, will all magically show themselves on your face precisely ONE day after your thirty-fifth birthday.

8. Every single politician on the planet, particularly the one you admire most, has his/her own agenda, that may or may not have anything to do with your welfare nor the welfare of his/her constituents.

9. Don’t do all the talking when you meet new people, listen to them and learn. Don’t assume you can figure out whether they’re basically good or bad, either. Time will tell.

10. All the good you do does come back to you, as does all the bad. This is especially true of sit-ups.