Tag: life lessons


What have you learned in your time on Earth so far?

What have you learned in your time on Earth so far?

I am far from having all of life’s answers — in fact, as I get older, I think my list of questions keeps growing — but I do think there’s value in acknowledging what life experience has taught me. Shortly after I turned 40, I kicked off a blog series here called “Things I Have Learned.” I started with 40 things I…

The Holstee manifesto: This is your life

The Holstee manifesto: This is your life

I kept seeing people post this photo on Facebook but only recently stopped to read the poster. I encourage you to do likewise — it’ll just take a minute and with luck, it’ll make your heart feel good like it did for me. Mission for this week: ask the next person you see what their passion is and share your…

38 Things I Have Learned at 38, by Amy Spooner

38 Things I Have Learned at 38, by Amy Spooner

I love that the contributions to the “Things I Have Learned” series keep coming in. I asked a small number of my writer friends to participate at the outset, but now the majority of participants have volunteered themselves and that’s fantastic. Keep ’em coming, all! Today’s list comes from Amy Spooner, who I met when she profiled me for the…

6 reasons to stop explaining yourself

6 reasons to stop explaining yourself

Some of the decisions I have made this year — choosing a part-time job over full time so I could launch my own business in a tough economy, spending two months in New Orleans when we have a cozy place in a great Brooklyn neighborhood — don’t make sense to some people. Ditto our choice not to have children, not…

7 tips for dealing with negative people, via Zen Habits

7 tips for dealing with negative people, via Zen Habits

I’ve shared posts before from one of my favorite blogs, Zen Habits. I know you can read it yourself if you’re interested, but this recent column on dealing with negative people just struck me as such good advice that I wanted to share here. Zen Habits encourages sharing by offering all its content freely, without restrictions. This post, borrowed from…

50 Things I Have Learned at 50, by Ann Belote Weir

50 Things I Have Learned at 50, by Ann Belote Weir

Today’s installment in the “Things I Have Learned” series comes from a colleague at my first job after college, where I worked as a reporter at the Alpena News. If you’ve never heard of Alpena, think cold. It’s five hours north of Detroit, and in addition to learning a tremendous amount about real-life newspapers, I learned such things as how…

35 Things I Have Learned at 35, by Amanda Hirsch

35 Things I Have Learned at 35, by Amanda Hirsch

Today is installment #3 in the “Things I Have Learned” series, with this latest list coming from Amanda Hirsch, a friend I met thanks to the wonder of Twitter. Previous lists have come from: me Margaret Yang Amanda Hirsch is a writer and comedian. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband, Jordan, their dog, Cosmo, and a lot…

Why Your Life Purpose Hurts Sometimes – a guest post from Christine Kane

Why Your Life Purpose Hurts Sometimes – a guest post from Christine Kane

I subscribe to Christine Kane‘s email newsletter, which offers a variety of business- and life-related advice. Christine, an Asheville, N.C.-based musician turned life coach, offers her content for free reuse, as long as its attributed, so here’s one I especially liked recently: The Sharp Edges of Expansion: Why Your Life Purpose Hurts Sometimes Somewhere along the way, we learn to…

Why do we fear failure so much?

Why do we fear failure so much?

My piano teacher has instructed me that I’m to have a glass of wine before I practice piano. He’s constantly reminding me that it’s OK to make mistakes, that as a beginner I need to make mistakes to learn, and he wants me to give myself permission to be imperfect. Thus the wine, to chill out a bit about whether…

In sickness and in health

In sickness and in health

I’ve been struck by how many people have trial by fire stories from a big journey — often at the very outset of the trip. Two couples we know had all their belongings stolen at the start of long international treks, and in the book I’m reading, Letters from New Orleans, the author’s girlfriend has her car stolen almost immediately…

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

You’ve probably heard that old chestnut “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” I’ve been thinking about that lately, in the context of my 2011 goals. We can aspire to a perfect year free of pain and suffering, but it’s pretty unlikely. And in the long run, that kind of year might not be in our best interest. It’s often…

Blow drier + bathtub does not = Jacuzzi

Blow drier + bathtub does not = Jacuzzi

Or: Lessons learned the hard way from ideas that sounded good at the time When I use hair driers in hotels, I’m frequently hypnotized by the giant warning tag they all have. You know the one — it warns you in bold red letters not to immerse your blow drier in a tub of water. For years, I’ve stared at…