My grandmother has always been a big part of my life, I've never gone terribly long without seeing or talking with her and she lives with us when she's not off traveling the world. She's not an average grandmother, so far she's had a pretty full, interesting life and she doesn't plan on letting it be less full or interesting anytime soon. Given that, she has a lot of advice to give, and she's constantly giving my siblings and I tips on how we can live our best lives. Though it can sometimes be infuriating, most of the advice she gives eventually turns out to have been very useful, her life is full of adventure and her advice comes to reflect that.
1. Put sunscreen on every day.
Now that I'm older, I'm starting to realize the importance of skincare and I'm realizing that I should've been following this advice from my grandmother my entire life because with sunscreen you can be as old as this:
But look like this:
2. Don’t always eat like you’re on a diet.
Yes, eating healthy is being very important, and my grandmother would be the first one to tell you that. But sometimes, good food that is not the most healthy choice is just good for the soul. Make exceptions to your eating rules for things you know are going to be worth it, don't aways be restricted!
3. Travel.
Don't stay in a comfort zone for too long, get out there, explore travel, learn and help yourself grow.
4. Take time to pamper yourself.
While working hard is extremely important, always take the time to pamper yourself. Time to yourself to decompress and heal can be very vital and taking care of yourself is more important than you might think.
5. Make sure to put your best face forward
This goes along with the last one. It's important to make sure that you're taking care of yourself. It helps you feel like you have your whole life together and when you feel like you have your whole life together, other people see that too. So take the time to make sure you take care of yourself so that other people will see it too.
6. People will look at your nails; make sure they don’t look bad.
Not that this will make a giant difference, but it does help to have nails that look good and make you feel good. Feeling put together is a big part of actually being put together.
7. Stay organized; it will help you live a better life.
This one is hard. It's difficult to stay organized and keep things clean, but it can actually be important to help you stay on top of things so that nothing gets too out of control.
8. Don’t drink as much wine as I do.
Anyone that's suffered from a wine hangover knows the true wisdom of this and would probably give it to the young ladies coming after them.
9. Successive approximations to the goal.
This means that when you try to reach a goal, even if you don't reach that goal, every time you try you get closer. Every time you try, even if you don't succeed, you get closer to that goal. So basically you should just always keep trying.
10. Go chug chug chugging along.
This is similar to successive approximations but it's different and it sort of contradicts a few of the first few pieces of advice. When my brothers and I were kids, my grandmother would take us on walks, pushing us in a stroller, singing "Old fat Nonna goes chug chug chugging along!" This always meant that no matter how she felt, no matter how crazy or bad she felt, she always kept going. Through her life she has always kept going
11. Learn how to cook from me.
My grandmother is a very good cook. She learned from her grandmother and her grandmother and she taught her mom and her entire life, especially the last few years that she has lived with us, she has constantly been telling me that I should learn to cook from her. Now that I'm on my own, or halfway on my own, I'm discovering the importance of knowing how to cook well and healthily.
12. Put tools in your tool box.
When I was a kid, my grandmother would always encourage me to step outside my comfort zone and have new experiences, to do things that I wouldn't normally do. Because when you put yourself out there, you learn how to do things and handle situations that you wouldn't do otherwise. So step outside of your comfort zone and start putting different tools in your toolbox.
