Written by a 90 year old
This is something we should all read at least once a week!!!!! Make sure you read to the end!!!!!!
Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio .
“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I’ve ever written.
My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:
1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10 . When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion . Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ‘In five years, will this matter?’
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
35. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come…
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44 . Yield.
45. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.”
Its estimated 93% won’t forward this. If you are one of the 7% who will,
forward this with the title ‘7%’
I’m in the 7%. Friends are the family that we choose.
I used to work with Regina when she was at the Akron Beacon Journal. Her website is http://www.reginabrett.com/
The single most popular column ever written by Regina was “50 Life Lessons,” written for The Plain Dealer when she turned 50 years old in 2006. You can read more about the “Lessons” in God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life’s Little Detours.”
Regina won the prestigious National Headliner Award for columns she wrote about being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998. During her chemotherapy and radiation treatments, she shared extensively and candidly about her experience.
Regina has been writing professionally since 1986, when she covered city hall for The Lorain
Journal. She then moved to The Beacon Journal in Akron, Ohio where she covered business news, social services, breaking news. She also wrote nearly 30 magazine stories for The
Beacon’s Sunday magazine and I was her photographer of most of them.
Regina became a thrice-weekly metro columnist for the Beacon Journal in 1994, moving to The
Plain Dealer in 2000. Over her entire career, she’s written nearly 2,000 newspaper columns.
Robin,
That is super cool that you know her! If she started writing professionally in 1986 she was in her upper 60’s when she started….that alone is motivational. Thank you for sharing the background info.
Julie