If Life Came with 25 Instructions

I wish life came with an instruction manual. We learn at an early age not to touch a hot stove or poke an angry bear, but there's a whole bunch of other really important things that we end up having to learn the hard way, often a little too late. For instance, I wish someone had told me:

1. That most people don't really like their job, but they will treat you better if you are not one of the reasons why;

2. That it would be really difficult to stay close with your close friends once you no longer lived in the same town, and that it would be much harder, once you worked full time, to make new friends to replace them;

3. That whichever lane you pick at the grocery store or a traffic jam is going to be the slowest moving, but you would have fared no better had you picked a different one;

4. That your friends and family might have political views different than yours, but it isn't your duty to change their minds;

5. That you cause a lot more damage than you solve by arguing over email;

6. That no one will ever listen to you, about anything, unless they think you care what they have to say as well;

7. That no matter how much you save, you will almost always regret the experience of shopping at Walmart;

8. That you shouldn't write off a potential occupation because it seems irresponsible; you should do what sounds fun. But you should make sure it actually is before you commit to it;

9. That most of the voices in your ear will give you advice based on how they want your life to turn out, not based on what's actually best for you;

10. That there are plenty of items for which you won't miss a thing if you save money and buy the generic version. But always splurge on coffee, pop tarts and toilet paper;

11. That other than your dog, every single person in your life will disappoint you at some point. But you have to forgive them, because you can only have so many dogs before your house smells like poop all the time;

12. That once you get married, you'll have to work really hard to preserve for yourself a life outside of your spouse. But you won't be very interesting to either of you, or anyone else, if you don't;

13. That most everyone works too hard and enjoys too little;

14. That if you've committed yourself to going somewhere but now find that you don't feel like going, you should go anyway, because you'll probably enjoy it once you get there.  And you lose a lot of credibility if people think you are flake;

15. That if you are rude to someone in traffic, you will be embarrassed when they inevitably park next to you at church;

16. That if you get all your news from either Fox or MSNBC then you are looking for affirmation rather than information;

17. That most everything seems easier to do tomorrow instead of today, but tomorrow you are likely to feel the same way;

18. That unhappiness is, barring some chemical imbalance, your soul's way of asking you to make some changes in your life, and your soul will continue knocking until you listen to it;

19. That most of the problems that consume your life today probably won't be an issue in a couple of years, and whatever you are going through, someone else before you has gone through it also;

20. That your human nature will seek out a comfortable existence and material pleasures, but if you don't find a greater purpose, your life will feel meaningless;

21. That you should never buy anything that you'll still be paying for long after you are no longer excited about it;

22. That you probably won't remember a single one of these thoughts in an hour, but the lyrics to that song you hate will be stuck in your head for all eternity;

23. That someone you don't immediately "click" with still might become one of your closest friends;

24. That if you don't at least occasionally change your mind about something, then you probably aren't doing enough thinking; and

25. That if you didn't like this post the first time you read it, you should refer back to #24 .