ADVISE TO A CHILD LEAVING HOME FOR THE FIRST TIME

 

 

I am the type of father who had perhaps outsourced 99% of the upbringing of our children to their mother but when it came to giving them advice compensated by offering 99% of them. People may have an opinion about this arrangement but that doesn’t prevent me from being my usual verbose self. You may remember I shared with you a letter which I wrote to my elder son Ananya when he was getting engaged https://surajitbrainwaves.blogspot.com/2016/04/letter-from-father-to-his-son-who-is.html

 

Our younger son Aayush is ten years younger to Ananya and for the first time he was leaving home to take up his first job in Axis Bank. The lad had never been to a boarding school and was mother’s pet all along. Now the real world was beckoning him. So I felt he needed some advice. While we had been priming him up with these gems from time to time, when he left home I thought of collecting them all in one place. So here we go:

1.      Good behavior will take you way beyond good skills.

2.      Stay as sweet as you are.

3.      Say Please, Thank You, and Pardon Me, whenever the situation warrants it.

4.      Reserve “I’m sorry” for when you truly are.

5.      Be passionate in what you do and always do it to the best of your ability.

6.      Chase excellence not success, remember, success chases excellence.

7.      Be a team player and take pride in your role in the team.

8.      There is always an opening, but it is at the top. Aim only for that spot. Mediocres will never reach there.

9.      Question everything, except your own intuition.

10.  Say what you mean and mean what you say.

11.  Travel light through life. Keep only what you need.

12.  It’s okay to cry when you’re hurt. Wash your face, clean your mess, and get off the awful mood when you’re done and start afresh.

13. Seek out the people and places that resonate with your soul.

14. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Steer your peers towards success as only the weak succumb to peer pressure.

15. Happiness is not a permanent state. Satisfaction is. Don’t confuse the two.

16. There is nothing in this world that you can’t do. So try your hand in everything but never lose your head while trying something new.

17. Hold your heroes to a high standard. Better still, be your own hero and get a little better every day.

18. You are incomparable – there was and will never be a better you. Now it is up to you to improve yourself.

19. You are amazing! Don’t let anyone ever make you feel you are not. If someone ever tries, just walk away. You deserve better company.

20. Be less sugar, more spice, and only as nice as you’re able to without compromising yourself.

21. If you can’t smile with your eyes, don’t smile. Insincerity is not an art you need to excel in.

22. Be kind; treat others how you would like them to treat you. Try a bit harder and be a little more useful to others.    Be extra courteous to ladies, they deserve it.

23. Never lie to yourself.

24. Your body, your rules. Eat intelligently and exercise regularly. Remember health is the real wealth.

25. If you have an opinion, you better know why.

26. Always ask for what you want. The worst thing they can say is no.

27. Fall in love often - particularly with ideas, art, music, literature, food and far-off places.

28. Fall hard and forever in love with nothing but yourself.

29. Working and slogging are two very different things, the former never exhausts you.

30. Naps are for grown-ups, too. It is not a waste of time, it is recharging your batteries.

31. You have enough. You are enough.

32. No matter where you are, you can always come home.

33. Be happy and remember your roots; family is everything.

34. No one will ever love you more than I do

35. If in doubt, remember whose child you are and straighten your crown.