My Factbook to Date

Yesterday, I began my 23rd year.  It seems to follow naturally that birthdays and the New Year are excellent times for reflection and self-examination.  Mine consisted mostly of sushi and ice cream, but also a bit of the former.  I've decided to begin a list of my truths and lessons learned...not so much a World Factbook, but my very own Life Factbook, if you will.  Definitely a work in progress.

I recognize how enormously fortunate I have been...just a year out of college and I have seen more of the world than most people will in their lifetime.  I am thankful to be a woman, I am thankful to be educated and articulate, I am thankful to have parents who supported me through college so that I now have the financial independence to send myself to places like Africa and Asia.  

So for those interested parties (or if you are just particularly bored on a Tuesday night) I present to you The Factbook (a work in progress), according to yours truly:

1)  Humans could learn a lot from dogs.  I think most particularly of my canine friends Einstein and Ben: they love all, without regard to gender, color, religion or smell; they are fiercely loyal and will fight to the death to defend those they love and finally --as I think of Ben running wild through the park creek with my sister's dogs-- they play with reckless abandon.

2)  Nothing cures a hangover quite like a good Bloody.  Better yet, to avoid hangovers, use my trick: when furiously consuming copious amounts of alcohol, always best to have one glass of water between drinks.  Just try it. 

3)  Our world is getting smaller and smaller. Be kind. Share. Make an effort not to take more than you need, whether that be water, paper or ketchup packets at Burger King. 

4)  And on that note; GIVE.  It's amazing how quickly you shrink wrap your world by being selfish.  There will never be a good time for being generous...you will never have enough time or enough money. Sacrifice. And donating your used, crap clothing is not sacrifice. Yes, it is thoughtful and well-intentioned, but true sacrifice is giving up something you yourself want/enjoy/need for another person.  At the end, we cannot take anything here with us.  So read bedtime stories to your children even after a long day, visit your granny, sponsor an orphan. 

5)  Now, this one might push some buttons, but bare with me.  Memo to the World: stop fighting about damn religion.  Stop trying to prove yourselves right. There are more than 6 billion people in the world and something greater is out there...we are all just worshipping and believing in different ways, colored by our own lives and experiences. No one owns the rights to God. No one has a monopoly on what that is. The less we focus on complicated doctrines, traditions, rules (and exceptions) and hell, even sin, the better.  Before I get irate comments, this is not to say that I don't respect religion. In fact, I find beauty and guidance in religion. Alls I'm saying is, it doesn't have to be so difficult: focus more on living our lives in the way of love, compassion and service. That's all.

6)  Denim overalls will never come back. Never. Just throw them away already.

7)  There is nothing more beautiful in a woman than confidence.  In Thailand, women bleach their skin because lighter is better. In Ghana, a woman with extra meat on her bones is ideal.  In Texas, women spend a lot of money going blonde and lying in tanning beds.  The moral? Your looks will never be attractive to everyone, so best to be attractive in your own eyes.  Standards of beauty not only change from culture to culture, but over time as well.  Instead of fighting nature, we'd all be much happier working with what we have.

8)  From Holland: Work hard to play hard.  It is wonderful to have a job you enjoy.  But we must also be mindful that a job does not define our total person.  A job is not who we are, it's what we do. We are so much more than who signs our paycheck.  There are many things in life to enjoy; indulge. If you find joy in even the smallest thing, treat yourself.  It might be a glass of good red wine and a cigarette, or wearing expensive perfume. Whatever it is, don't feel guilty finding something that makes you feel good.

9)  From Africa:  Love. Love all, all the time. Humanity shares more in common than it has differences. It's time we embrace that.  Be joyful. Not just when you get the chance; always.  And finally: hope. Sometimes, the world seems so bleak.  It only takes 10 minutes of the evening news to want to lock yourself up in a bunker and not come out for 50 years. Don't do that. Stay out here and fight the good fight. Why were the refugees in Ghana so happy? Because, despite their hardships, they had an unfailing, honest, gritty, unbreakable belief in the future. In what could be. They have faith that things will get better. They live with hope.

10)  From Asia:  Presence.  Live fully in this moment, here and now.  Let yourself be blown away by the beauty of this life and the opportunities and experience it provides you.  Do not be past, do not be future, simply be now.  I think that when I am wrinkly and toothless with blue hair, I won't regret the things I did, I will regret the things I didn't do.  I have no greater fear in life (other than heights) than to look in the mirror 30 years from now and not recognize the face.  Being present doesn't mean being irresponsible, it doesn't mean massively expensive trips that take you around the world. Rather, live for the moment. Explore and discover. Push your envelope.

11)  Wear SPF 45 on your face, neck and chest every day--even if it's overcast--because that is the skin that ages the fastest; therefore betraying your age when you are a woman in your 50s trying to flirt with the cute new junior associate!

12)  Note to self: bungee jumping will not cure a fear of heights.