211–220 of 312 posts
Ride a bicycle and learn C (I've been doing the first for 50+ years and the second for 30+ [0]). Some skills never go out of fashion. [0] Personally, I found learning C harder than falling off bicycles.
With or without the helmet? Because the opinions are divided.
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Just don't think about work, startups, money, etc when you are eating dinner with your family, or spending time with them. Harder than it sounds.
I had kids late in life, which I think has some advantages. One is that you've learnt that nothing lasts and it's important to be present in the moment, because it doesn't come back.
I am 69, so I will chime in here: I now spend much more time dedicated to the food I eat, exercise, and meditation. A good thing is that I mostly no longer care much about changing other people's opinions on things. I certainly enjoy talking and expressing myself but if someone listens to me then that is sufficient - they don't have to agree with me. It works the other way also: even if I disagree with someone, I can…
No matter how you live your youth, you will probably regret it when you are older. Unless you inherit so much money that you don't have to ever work in your life. If you spend your youth having fun and enjoying your youth, then when you get to middle age you'll have wished you worked harder and saved more so you could be wealthy and comfortable. If you work your butt off in your youth and have lots of money and succe…
Inheriting money doesn't change things so much: the people I've met who've inherited a lot of money generally felt a bit lost. I'm not quite old yet (everyone would say that, right? I'm 35), and I don't regret my younger self at all: during the past 12 years I worked cumulatively 9 years and had 3 years off inbetween jobs. I managed to save up some money, as well as travel and have time for myself.
Ever since I had kids, being forced to work for a living has been a massive weight on my life. Inherited wealth would be a great help.
Luckily, the fact that I don’t expect to inherit much of anything gets me out of the moral implications of wishing anyone’s death (which is actually the second biggest worry, at the back of my mind).
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Programmers have been well paid since at least the dot com bubble, that's a conservative 20 years, wouldn't consider that 'fairly recently' imo. Also I would consider a bare six figure salary well paid.
Just to be more precise, programmers are well paid in USA, London and some other exception. In the rest of the world we are paid like any other "office job". IF remote jobs and wfh culture will rise, I would bet those salaries are gonna plummet down in the medium term
Physically, my best advice is to take good care of your back and your teeth. These 2 things can make a huge quality of life difference once you are past 40. I would also add your eyes, but there is not a lot you can do about that one! Almost everyone needs reading glasses by 40. Glasses suck, but you get used to it. Psychologically, the best I can say is to forgive yourself for any stupid things you did when you were…
My eye doctor told me something very useful about 20 years ago, when I was in my early 20s. He told me not to wear my glasses unless I had a headache. He said that your eye has muscles and they need workouts like the rest of your body. So I basically never wore them. I was just on the cusp of needing a prescription back then. He gave me glasses because insurance covered it so why not he said. But then gave me the adv…
If I let my eye muscles work, my vision would actively deteriorate.
-- Alanis Morrissette
"As I started getting older, I realized, 'I'm so happy!' I didn't expect this. I wasn't happy when I was young."
-- Jane Fonda
First, you'll probably never think of yourself as old. You'll look in the mirror and wonder why 20 year old you has all this gray hair and wrinkles. Second, it's ok to let things slide for a while, but the longer you let them slide, the tougher they are to fix (and if you wait too long, some things can't be fixed). See plenty of other comments about teeth, back, RSI, diet. If you decide to let something go for a whil…
This. You will forget the people who hurt you. But you will remember the people you hurt. You will accept the things you tried and failed. But you will regret not trying. Going against your ethics will leave scars on your soul, and the reasons for doing so will seem so stupid in hindsight.
But it takes some time to find your true ethics, and separate it from merely what other people say you should do.