I have read some insightful quotes, phrases, and chapters in my life time that have inspired me. The words below are from one of my favorite songs called ‘Sun Screen.‘ Hope they lift your spirits in a way they have lifted mine.
If I could offer you one advice, sunshine would be it. The rest of my advice is from a combination of knowledge that I have acquired over the years, and here it is.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Actually never mind that, because you won’t understand the power and beauty of your youth, until they have faded. Trust me, 30 years from now, when you look at your photos from the past and recall in a way you can’t grasp now of all the possibilities that lay in your way. And how fabulous you really looked. And you are not as fat as you imagined.
Don’t worry about the future, or worry, about worrying to solve a math equation while chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never really crossed your way of mind. The kind that blind side you on some idle tuesday. Do one thing every day that scares you. Sing. Don’t be reckless with other people’s heart, and don’t put up with people that are reckless with yours. Floss. Don’t waste your time on jealously, sometimes you are ahead, sometimes you are behind. The race is long, and at the end, it’s only with yourself. Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults. If you succeed at doing this, tell me how. Keep your old love letters. Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what to do with your life. Most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t know what to do with their life. Get plenty of calcium, and be kind to your knees. You’ll miss them when they are gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you will not. Maybe you will have children, maybe you won’t. Maybe you will divorce at forty. Maybe you will dance the funky chicken at your 75th wedding anniversary. Don’t congratulate yourself too much. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else’s. Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it. It’s the greatest instrument you will ever own. Dance. Even if you have no where to do it, except in your living room. Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.
Get to know your parents. You never know when they will be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings, they are the best link to your past, and most likely to stick with you in the future. Understand that friends come and go. But there are precious few you hold on to. Work hard to bridge the gaps between geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.
Live in New York city once. But leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel. Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders. Respect your elders. Don’t expect anyone to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one will run out. Don’t mess too much with your hair. Or by the time you are forty, it will look eighty-five. Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth. But trust me on the sunshine.
–
written by: Raaj Kapur Brar
Song lyrics by Baz Luhrmann – Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)
–