The Advice We'd Give to Our 25-Year-Old Selves

"If you don't like the world the way it is, change it—one step at a time"

 

I came across a really interesting article on the Oprah website: "The Advice We'd Give to Our 25-Year-Old Selves". This asks 17 accomplished men and women to write to their younger selves.

I wonder what I would tell myself in twenty-five years time?

I think people were better off twenty-five years ago when the world was a much simpler place to navigate through. Lines were not blurred, roles were clearly defined. We live in a world that's increasingly an amalgamated, melting-pot of pop-cultural mush.

Yes we have technology, we have access to information and we have access to people 24/7. What we also have are a whole lot of people whom think they have the right to diseminate their persepctive through vehicles like blogs - I myself am one of them.

How would one even begin the letter to oneself?

In the world that we live in - what kind of advice would I give myself to help me along my way?
Would it be a philosophical riddle on the paradox of life? Would it be something practical?

I have no clue, and I guess that's why people only write these letters when they've reached 50 - maybe by then we would have gained some perspective.

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Celebrities-Letters-to-Younger-Selves/3#ixzz2DKaL3hZq

The YSA List: Honoring The 25 Most Powerful and Influential Young People

I recently came across this amazing initiative by Youth Service America (YSA).

They have created the YSA List which recognizes 25 young people (ages 5 – 25) around the world that have made significant, large-scale change in five categories – Health, Education, Human Service, Human Rights, and the Environment.

Check this out: http://www.ysa.org/25/list

Before all things Internet

25 things a twenty-five year old can do today that was not possible 25 years ago.

1. You'd be stuck with your specs and would probably be known as four-eyes, as disposable lenses were only invented in 1987

2. "Papa don't preach... I'm keeping my baby" - you'd definitely be keeping your baby if you were doing the deed; the morning after pill was only invented in 1988.

3. Drat! No cloning Bambi - the first genetically-engineered animal was made (I mean made is the right word here- you can't possibly be born) in 1988

4. No Blackberry, no iPhone, no Galaxy, no apple vs Samsung war as the first mobile only came into existence in 1988. (Probably, they were fighting about which boom box has the best features and great battery life ? After all, that's important when it's on your shoulder)

5. No blogs, no Google, no YouTube as the world wide web was only perfected in 1990! Oh and no Justin Bieber - no offense Biebs, but how would Usher have taken note of you without YouTube?

6. Which leads me to my next point - No email! Omg! We would actually have to sit and write letters... Using pens... And paper... And send them with a pigeon (lol, no not really.. We did have a working postal system by then but that was an awesome image)

7. "Hello" "Oh how are you?" "I'm great, yeah really busy" "You're probably going to be so pissed right... Yeah cos this is my voicemail" That whole situation would have been impossible without its ancestor - the digital answering machine which came to us in '91.

8. No Uggs and no Crocs! (Can't say that we're better off having lived through them)

9.No Spice Girls - the epitome of modern pop culture! (No extremely anorexic Victoria, oooh and no Spice Girl Shoes)

10.No Viagra - sorry Hef! That would have sucked for you!

11.No Mandela (sadly he was still in prison)

12. No Twilight ... No elaboration required

13. No Jerry Maguire which in turn means none of the most famous movie lines ; I mean, can you conceive of a world without: "Show me the money" or "You complete me" and my favorite "You had me at hello" -life would suck

14. No mega upload, bearshare, torrent sites - if you wanted to get music from a friend, you'd better have a blank cassette. Although blank cassettes were great for lyrics!

15. No "War on terror" which means we could still travel on a plane with a pair of tweezers which is so necessary.

16. No Digital Photo Frames, I mean we'd actually have to print stills and put them in alien places like albums or those strange squares on walls called frames.

17. Before the world of Global Positioning Systems, more commonly known as the GPS, there were maps and I do not know how to read them! A special commendation goes out to Garmin - thank you.

18. No Hipstamatic, Instagram and Old Photo pro... The fact is, if we were around in the 80's all your pics would look like that! Embrace the red-eye zombie look everyone.

19. No Internet shopping, no eBay and no amazon - we would just stick to looking at magazines.

20. Before the cheque account - there was a cheque book, and if you were twenty-five 25 years ago, you'd be using it!

21. No E! Entertainment which means: No Kardashians, no Dish, No Fashion Police - how would I get my daily gossip dose mmm?

22. Reality TV! Thank you! Okay to be fair, the first ever reality show was aired in the 70s, but the birth of reality as we know it today (sexy, cut-throat, controversial) was born in 1992 - and we still can't get enough!

23. No Nespresso machines - what did the lazy people, who wanted coffee as much as the next person do?

24. Listen to Michael Jackson and weep (if you were around 25 years ago, he would still be alive and you'd be able to watch him live)

25. Type an entire blogpost on a tablet pc... Because you'd be using a type-writer, so we win!

We Gave the world The Simpsons

Feeling a little nostalgic about 1987...

1987 was such a great year, so great infact that people felt that they could not have it's awesomeness spill over another second - literally another second! The year itself was shortened by 1 second to adjust to the Gregorian calender.

I mean we couldn't stop there, we had resources, rights, and a pretty well-functioning environment. This happened to be the perfect circumstances for humans to breed. Thus the worlds population reaches approximately five billion (5 000 000 000).

We gave the world The Simpsons. Before 1987 - no one knew of the yellow family with cookie-cutter head shapes. The Simpsons was seen on TV for the first time.

The birth of prime-time telly as we know it today. Hello to Fox Television. The world is extremely grateful! Twenty-five years ago you had the sense to realise that people want to be entertained when they get home from work!

Another uber cool amazing fact about 1987 is that the first criminal to ever be convicted using DNA Evidence happened in that year - and the lucky perpetrator happened to be: Robert Melias in England.

Think about it; if this did not happen - there'd be no CSI. What would a modern world do without Horatio Caine Mmm?

Other less important, but still worth mentioning facts: 

• Margaret Thatcher elected as UK Prime Minister - third time in a row.
• The Food and Drug Administration approves anti-AIDS drug AZT
• Work on the Channel Tunnel joining UK and France begins
• Disposable Contact Lenses became available for commercial distribution
• Prozac makes its debut in the United States.

Thanks : http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1987.html

25 in Numerology

The 25 Say Number person is sometimes known to be very aloof and critical of others, so it is hard to form close bonds with one.  However, they possess a wonderful mind and are excellent researchers.

7 needs to investigate all things himself and come to his own conclusions, decisions and value system.  25, due to its 2 + 5 = 7 vibration, is the thinker, dreamer and philosopher who can easily leave the world behind and enter into the world of creative imagination.  25 searches for its own belief system and wants to do its own investigation/s.

Source: http://numerology-thenumbersandtheirmeanings.blogspot.com/2011/05/number-25.html

25 Musings on the benefits of turning 25

1. Lower car insurance… Yippee

2. Able to say that I've been around the sun 25 times

3. Feels eerily similar to turning 24 except the square root of my age will be 5

4. Having a 5 as the square root of your age isn’t that cool..

5. I'm okay with admitting to myself, and others, that I am too tired to go out in the week

6. I'm old enough that people respect my opinions and views

7. I'm young enough to still get away with a lot

8. I now take an interest in how the rising petrol prices will impact the price of food

9. Pay own bills - (I know you can do that when you are younger but when you are 25 - saying it has more impact)

10. People address me as Miss or Mam (and I let them do it! I have a superiority complex!)

11. 18 year olds judge me for being too old in Night Clubs (Two things: 1. Probably I am too old to party where they party 2. Yeah I am probably too old to party where they party - they just get drunk and pass out anyway)

12. I prefer going out for dinner

13. I prefer wine to vodka jelly shots

14. I like, actually I LOVE conversations about politics, books, and existential theories

15. Visiting a place like India to find myself suddenly has more appeal

16. Finding myself as a whole has more appeal

17. I know the lyrics and most of the songs which play on VH1…Classic

18. Justin Bieber looks like a small boy to me

19. I probably need to start investing a good face cream with an SPF

20. I can’t go to work if I partied until 5am

21. I take being asked for my age at a nightclub as a compliment and proceed to thanking the bouncer enthusiastically

22. I have no idea of what’s the latest music – I used to be one of those people 'in the know'

23. I remember Buffy the Vampire Slayer and ask if Twilight is anything similar?

24. I am waaay more lazy than I ever used to be (not sure how that is even possible)… Doing things expend too much energy

25. I now have a new fear… the fear of turning 26