{"id":1015,"date":"2010-11-28T19:08:43","date_gmt":"2010-11-28T13:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.prasadgupte.com\/go\/?p=1015"},"modified":"2011-03-22T12:45:16","modified_gmt":"2011-03-22T07:15:16","slug":"advice-form-of-nostalgia-wear-sunscreen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prasadgupte.com\/blog\/advice-form-of-nostalgia-wear-sunscreen\/","title":{"rendered":"Advice is a form of nostalgia… wear sunscreen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)<\/a> is a song by Baz Luhrmann, an Australian film personality, adapted from an essay by one Mary Schmich which was published in the Chicago Tribune back in 1997. Although this song makes me quite sentimental, I make a point to listen to it once in a while to take stock of my own life. I am attaching the lyrics here and highlighting parts that make a lot of sense to me. Do read through, you’ll love the song too!<\/p>\n

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of \u201999
\nIf I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience\u2026I will dispense this advice now.<\/p>\n

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth<\/strong>; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you\u2019ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can\u2019t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked\u2026.You\u2019re not as fat as you imagine<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t worry about the future<\/strong>; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Do one thing everyday that scares you<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sing<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be reckless with other people\u2019s hearts<\/strong>, don\u2019t put up with people who are reckless with yours.<\/p>\n

Floss<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t waste your time on jealousy<\/strong>; sometimes you\u2019re ahead, sometimes you\u2019re behind\u2026the race is long, and in the end, it\u2019s only with yourself<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults<\/strong>; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.<\/p>\n

Keep your old love letters<\/strong>, throw away your old bank statements.<\/p>\n

Stretch<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t feel guilty if you don\u2019t know what you want to do with your life\u2026the most interesting people I know didn\u2019t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Get plenty of calcium.<\/p>\n

Be kind to your knees, you\u2019ll miss them when they\u2019re gone.<\/p>\n

Maybe you\u2019ll marry, maybe you won\u2019t, maybe you\u2019ll have children,maybe you won\u2019t, maybe you\u2019ll divorce at 40, maybe you\u2019ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary\u2026what ever you do, don\u2019t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either \u2013 your choices are half chance, so are everybody else\u2019s. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can\u2026don\u2019t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it\u2019s the greatest instrument you\u2019ll ever own..<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dance<\/strong>\u2026even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.<\/p>\n

Read the directions, even if you don\u2019t follow them.<\/p>\n

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.<\/p>\n

Get to know your parents, you never know when they\u2019ll be gone for good.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on<\/strong>. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Travel.<\/p>\n

Accept certain inalienable truths<\/strong>, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you\u2019ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.<\/p>\n

Respect your elders<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t expect anyone else to support you.<\/strong> Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you’re 40, it will look 85.<\/p>\n

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it.<\/strong> 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\u2019s worth.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But trust me on the sunscreen\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen) is a song by Baz Luhrmann, an Australian film personality, adapted from an essay by one Mary Schmich which was published in the Chicago Tribune back in 1997. Although this song makes me quite sentimental, I make a point to listen to it once in a while to take stock … Continue reading Advice is a form of nostalgia… wear sunscreen<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[729,6],"tags":[562,564,567,566,546,568,565,563],"class_list":["post-1015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-people","category-thoughts","tag-advice","tag-baz-luhrmann","tag-insult","tag-jealousy","tag-life","tag-love","tag-parents","tag-sunscreen"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prasadgupte.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prasadgupte.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prasadgupte.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prasadgupte.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prasadgupte.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prasadgupte.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prasadgupte.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prasadgupte.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prasadgupte.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}