After a long day in transit, I wanted to share a note of lessons I wrote in hopes that my future niece learns them earlier than I did:
- The world is both big and small and travel is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Embrace it. Get out into it.
- Learn to pack light. You need much less than you think.
- Keep asking “why?” and consider it as a major warning sign if someone in authority doesn’t want to answer, gets frustrated when you ask, or can’t answer the question without a tautology.
- “Because that’s just how it’s done” is the worst answer to this question.
- Learn to listen for and recognize the quiet voice inside of you that you know is your soul.
- Do whatever you have to in order to protect and cherish this voice. Some people will try to crush it.
- Avoid those people. They aren’t worth your time and are toxic for you.
- Basic personal finance and statistics will save your ass.
- Avoid debt like the plague. It is one of the oldest forms of slavery in the world, but is made to appear as “normal.”
- On that note, don’t watch TV, or whatever its equivalent is by the time you’re old enough to. It will try to lie to you about almost everything that is important and make you feel bad about yourself so you buy crap you don’t need or believe in ideas that don’t serve you.
- Curiosity and “dangerous questions” are what we need more of. All progress depends on these.
- Ignorance is not the same as stupidity. If you don’t know something, find out. Ask, learn, repeat.
- Avoid anyone who tries to make you feel bad for being curious, learning something, or trying to improve yourself and the world. This person is an energy-sucking vampire.
Love,
Uncle Andrew