Okay, so today is Black Friday- Day after Thanksgiving. Our Thanksgiving was great, as always (we missed you, Tim), but I don't feel compelled to write about that today.
Recently, my extended family has grown by quite a bit, due to an Uncle's marriage. His new wife has added several great kids to the extended family, and I was lucky enough to spend a little time with them yesterday. Their current experiences range from middle school to college, and talking with them yesterday, made me want to unload tons of unsolicited, (perhaps unwanted) advice. Hence, today's post is Practical Life Applications 101. Targeted mainly to those on the college front.
Now, here's the deal. Most of you who would be reading this blog, know the basics already- do my life choices glorify God? Read your Bible, pray, etc. Here are some other things I've learned. Alot I learned in college- but I guess they could apply to real life sometimes, too. Believe me, I'm NOT listing these things because I did them.... I'm listing them because I DIDN'T, and payed for it. Hopefully, you guys are smarter than I was, and don't need to read this stuff.
#1- Take care of your health. Sometimes, this means going to bed, when everyone else wants to party. Believe me, you WON'T always be popular for this. But dragging yourself to class (or work) at 8 am is a little bit easier if you've had adequate snooze time. And if you're sick.... don't go out. Everyone will tell you to pop a Vitamin C or Ecinesea, and keep going, but take time to get better. As good as friends can be, sometimes they are very convincing- they would love nothing more than your company, and that can wreak havoc on your health, if you're pulling to many late-nighters.
#2- Prioritize. No one will tell you what order to put your activities in. Well, your Professors might try to do that, but no one can MAKE you. If you know you have a project due, don't think that you'll be able to go out tonight, and still get it done by 8am. It WON'T happen, or else it will, but your product will show it.
#3- Avoid the Credit Card guys that hand out free tee-shirts, duffle bags, and frisbees. If you need the tee-shirts that bad, go to Old Navy, and spend the 10 bucks. Trust me. You don't need 3 different credit cards for "emergencies". No one tells you this, (or maybe now they do), but that dings your credit everytime you apply for one.
#4- Pay your bills- ONTIME. It's easy to think that what you do moneywise, while you're young won't count. Believe me, it does. I remember when we bought our house, I had to write explanations on why a bill was late, like 3 years before. Like I could remember why.... that was college, I didn't think it mattered.
Which leads me too...
#5- Will you regret this decision? Tomorrow, next week, next semester, or 6 years from now.... Now, if we all lived by "Does this decision glorify God?", we wouldn't have this issue, but since I know we don't all ALWAYS do this, I thought I'd throw it in. Explaining yourself tomorrow, next week, next semester, or 6 years from now- to a friend, significant other, professor, boss, spouse, or God can sometimes get hairy.
#6- Don't take, or allow yourself to be in, any pictures that you don't want to see come out in 10 years or so.... I recently had to hide some photo albums from my four-year-old, and this too, can be embarrasing.
I know many of you might have some other valuable life lessons you'd like to share. Email them to me, and I'll post them on my blog.
I hope you all had a great Turkey Day!
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