Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, gives us eight nights to celebrate. Instead of giving gifts this year, I’m giving unsolicited advice. I’ve collected these gems (and a couple duds) from various sources over the years. I’m sharing my top eight, one for each night of the holiday. You’re welcome.
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Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me might be the worst advice ever. Physical injury can leave a visible scar that you might see a lot or only on occasion. Emotional injury can leave a mental scar that wakes you up in the middle of the night for years to come. Words hurt more than sticks and stones sometimes, hiding in the file folders of your memory, stinging like an emotional paper cut that someone squeezed lemon juice on. Ouch.
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A large chunk of parenting your teenagers is remembering that you were once a teenager and probably did something similar or worse. Then there’s another chunk of parenting, which is practicing patience, taking a deep breath and counting to 10. Sometimes 11.
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When you have bad feelings such as anger and jealousy and it’s all you can think about, you are taking up space for good feelings like happiness and contentment. When you let go of the negative thoughts, it allows room for all of the positive thoughts to come in.
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The key to looking fabulous is to look like crap most of the time so the fabulous version of you is more like a fun surprise to people. Fashion experts say a great look is a wardrobe mix of high and low, meaning an expensive piece with an economical piece. To piggyback off that I’ll add a twist: Just wear low-end pieces. For example, a WalMart top with some Costco pants and a Target bra makes a really nice outfit, or “fit,” as the kids say.
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When words aren’t enough, when we don’t know the right thing to say, we can always rely on the most classic form of nonverbal communication: the middle finger.
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You can add some spice to your life by changing up your routine. If you wake up an hour earlier each day, you can add 60 minutes of anxiety to your schedule.
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If you take your bottom lip and press it all the way up so it’s touching your top lip you can actually shut up.
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Any size pizza can be a “personal” pizza if you try hard and believe in yourself.
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