I’m not sure if the final words of anyone have any meaning. But there’s the myth they might be words of magic, teetering on that border between Earth and…whatever.
My regrets can be summed up by the word: “Don’t”.
Don’t Buy Things…
Buy experiences. A thing is a house. An experience is a trip.
An experience is a visit to that girl or guy on the other side of the world who said, “maybe”.
An experience is an invitation to meaning instead of material.
Don’t Do Anything You Don’t Want To Do…
You think you have time to get out of it. But you don’t.
And then it happens. And then it’s too late. And then it’s something you did.
A black ink stamp leaving it’s mark on your wrist. You went to the party and the next day, all blurry and inky, it shows and everyone can see.
Don’t Try To Please People…
Nobody is more worthy of love in the entire universe than you. I wish I had reminded myself of that more.
I could’ve saved all of that time where I was trying to please someone else.
Money you lose you can always make back. But even five minutes of time lost is gone forever.
(“All of my possessions for a moment of time” – last words of Elizabeth I)
Don’t Fall In Love With Someone Who Is In Love With Someone Else…
These people are magnets of love. They’ve sucked all the love out of the room so when you walk in, it’s already too late, you’re past that zone in the black hole where nothing ever gets out.
When I’ve fallen in love with someone who was in love with someone else, only pieces of me have ever survived. And even then I had to put those pieces back together into the tinkertoy robot that became me for too long.
Don’t Make Promises You Can’t Keep…
You know who I mean if you are reading this.
Run. Don’t Walk…
I don’t mean run to a goal or a destination. There are no goals and you realize this around the age of 30 or so.
I mean just “run”. You build up your blood vessels. More oxygen gets to the brain. You get smarter. Life is better.
And you’ll see more in life than the people who are walking. Who take their time failing. Who take their time falling for others. Who take their time while waiting for the right moment.
Fail quickly. Fall more. So you end up giving more.
There’s never a right moment. So just run to get there.
(“I’d hate to die twice. It’s so boring” – last words of Richard Feynman).
Don’t Wait For Them To Say “Yes”…
Who is “them”? What are they saying “yes” to? What do you think will happen after the wait is over?
There’s only stupid answers.
Say yes to yourself first and everyone will say yes later.
Don’t Steal Paperclips From The Office…
It seems small. But a million paper clips in life add up to what you are, a mishmash of twisted metal.
Be honest. Honesty compounds until your word becomes The Word. Try it and see.
Don’t Eat Bad Food…
And by “food” I mean McRibs. But also I mean the news. And dramas that kill lots of people.
And coworkers who gossip in the hallway, everyone trying to pull everyone else down.
And family who yells at you only because you have become the piano they play their own anguish on.
And late nights with the girl who smiles but you know it will never work.
At 20, life can either compound into beauty or into insanity. This is the “don’t” that forks into both.
Don’t Regret…
It may look like these are regrets. But they are just tattoos that live on me right now. An illustrated man.
Don’t time travel into the past, roaming through the nuances as if they can change. Don’t bookmark pages that are boring.
Today it starts all over again. Every tomorrow is determined by every today.
(I am begging my kids to listen to this podcast below and then not go to college)
