So after I turned forty-two last month I was going to post one of those popular list posts like “42 lessons in forty- two years”. It sounded good at the time but then I started typing and ran into the redundancy of an inflated list. I also felt what do I know? I’m not exactly living my best life and sometimes it feels like a cautionary tale. So instead I will type what I think I know based on life experience.

Get Money

I will always say follow your dreams. That being said sometimes you are going to do things you don’t enjoy to make money. Ru Paul was right, “You gotta work”. Since high school I’ve worked fast food, telemarketing, cashiering, factory work, night security a hotel and I’ve bussed tables. The funny part is the jobs I hated the most you’d think were the best going into them. Telemarketing you get a cushy chair in a clean office but you rightfully get verbally abused by people your harassing at dinner time. The hotel was great eighty percent of the time until the drunken asshole parade returned from the wedding reception. Jobs will suck at times but find something you enjoy since it will be forty hours of your week plus commute time.

There’s a study that says the happiest people earn around seventy- five thousand a year. Of course that will go up with inflation. The reason is you have enough money to live, pay bills and go on vacations without being underwater financially. At the same time at that level you aren’t owned by your wealth and status which can lead to unhappiness of the ultra wealthy.

Also unless you’re a rare breed, no one will want to date your broke ass. Get a job, a second, job and/or a side hustle.

Your body is your vehicle

The better you treat your body the happier you’ll be. Sure sometimes I like to wake up with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and watch Netflix. It’s a way for me to feel good about being single without kids. You can’t do that when you have kids its a bad influence. However hours later I feel like garbage both physically and psychologically. I avoid soda unless there’s liquor in it and that’s not a daily occurrence for me. If I drink too much I spend the day on toilet so I really don’t know how alcoholics function. Maybe they have better digestion than me. Anyhow eat veggies when you can. Sneak that stuff in omelets with cheese. Being a night owl I love coffee and need it. I limit my cigarettes to a couple a day unless I drink in that case its likely half a pack. I’d be hypocritical to tell you not to smoke but keeping it limited is always a good thing. Also don’t do meth, crack, or heroine. That shit will age you.

Use your body. Dance when no one is watching. Run if you can. I developed shin splints a few years back and wasn’t passionate about jogging enough to take care of the situation. I bike daily for my commute. I do this partially for health but also as a ‘fuck you’ the car insurance companies that shake citizens down for protection money and to feel smug to environmentalists in their Prius’.( Just kidding). You don’t need a gym unless you have specific goals. What works for me is a bicycle and the occasion yoga session. Also I prefer to work jobs which include physical activity.

Read More Books

Eventually you’ll be in a position where you don’t have to read. There’s no papers to do and no book reports. Reading becomes a choice. You can just binge watch Netflix with your time away from work but to go deep on any subject matter you need to read. I tend to argue with people about politics so I read opposing viewpoints. I’m fairly liberal but I read The Revolution by Ron Paul and Barry Goldwalter’s Heart of the Conservative. This has also helped evolve my political positions. Good stories and depth inside a character are more easily available in a book as opposed to movies which I love. I’m almost done with Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, through it I don’t see how film can do it justice. So much of it is inside the characters head.

If you can’t afford a class there’s always a book on any topic you plan to go deep on. And shit you can even build a library of E Books on a Kindle or chosen device. So basically never stop learning.

Love is the answer

So I’ve gone through finance, the mind and the body. What about the spirit? Okay it’s really simple and encompasses most religion. Love thy neighbor. If it bleeds it leads on the news so we are trained to believe people are evil and we live in a negative world. So ok if that were true then we need more heroes and more good people to balance things out. Yes this is difficult. Customers can be assholes. Family is a pain in the ass at times. Sometimes people suck. This being the case, be helpful anyway even if its for a selfish reason like I have. I love sleep. When I’m an asshole to people my mind replays it and I have a hard to sleeping but when I do good my bed is all comfy and I sleep my way into a temporary coma.

But What Do I Know

This is the part where I allow you the reader to dismiss everything you just read. Like a screenwriter that ends with it was all a dream. I’m just a regular guy in two hours I’ll be on a dishwashing shift because I haven’t figured out how to make money by blogging or making videos. So find your own way. Maybe you’ll live the American dream. You’ll get the house with the white picket fence and the dog named sparky. If you don’t that’s okay too.

Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long and, in the end, it’s only with yourself.

Mary Schmich