I feel it is an obligation for any older folk to pass wisdom to those not-in-the-know of things regarding life. Some people are born directionless and they get lost in their lives and before they know it, they’re knee-deep in debt, they’re in awful minimal-wage jobs, they make poor decisions regarding their love lives .etc
I have several and my more prominent one is;
- Know Your Numbers
This is a key and must-have piece of knowledge. You must know your numbers. How much you’ll earn a month, how much your expenses are, how much is in your bank account, interests and much more. I don’t care if you’ve hated math growing up, you will need to know this. Because going off on guesswork and estimations, only gets you so far before you slip up. Once you slip up financially, missing a payment, you will fall behind faster than you’ll get back ahead or break even. As someone said, everyone is one car repair or medical emergency away from being in poverty.
- Do not get kids in your teens and 20s
Your teenage and young adolescent years, are better spent figuring out who you are and what you want to achieve. Recklessly getting kids with someone who you thought you loved or poor planning are reasons people end up paying child support and having to go to family court and having to deal with custody battles for the rest of their lives. Supporting a kid is $250k PER child, that’s the average, moreso because of the economy. Is it really worth the few minutes of sex at all for that expense?
- Avoid Jail
Going to jail, over anything, is a bad setback to have in life. If you think finding a job is hard normally with the way the job market is, it’ll be twice that if you have a criminal record. That is just shit not a lot will be ignored.
You’ll lose time, you’re likely to lose any jobs you’ve had at the time of going to jail, you may polarize family and friends even. It’s just not worth it, regardless. The more times you end up in jail too, consider your life over.
- Thrift and Thrift Away!
Thrifting can be a dirty word to some who prefer to get things new, which I understand. But it is a money-saver in the long run. For example, my apartment is 85% of thrifted items and I have a hard time recalling anything I’ve spent more than $10 for, aside from select things I bought new because I wanted them new, like some appliances.
Just try not to be a hoarder if it can be helped.
Can’t say I really disagree with you, but my caveat would be this: if you’re going to try drugs, know what you’re getting into. ‘A drug is a drug’ is a dumb statement you hear sometimes - not all drugs are created equal, and luckily these days we live in a world where a lot of great harm reduction information is easily available (for now, the future’s never guaranteed).
Know your substance, ~how it works, contraindications and best practices, common risks, what you’re hoping to get out of the experience, what you’d hope to avoid and how best to manage that. Prepare yourself accordingly, including frank reflection on if you really want to do it.
Used responsibly, some drugs can be useful tools - I agree that with psychedelics you can often reach the same kind of useful conclusions straight, but for some it can be a useful kick in the pants in the right direction. Sometimes (with a little experience under your belt and understanding of different dosages imo), they can be nice enhancements in the right environment. But know that there are risks you need to control for where you can, and actively accept if you cannot.
And a great little maxim coming out of talk re: psychedelics, though useful elsewhere: “When you get the message, hang up the phone”.
I agree with everything you said. If you’re going to take drugs, having unbiased, scientific information is super important. Just don’t let it fool you into thinking you’re above getting fucked up. Every time you take something, you’re taking a risk. Which isn’t a problem per se (we all take risks, all the time), but well informed, calculated risks are still risks and you need to think real hard whether it’s worth it.