We live in a world where people are constantly giving, writing, and publishing advice about life's most infamous bumps in the road. Advice about how to pass a certain class, how to get over your ex, how to lose weight, how to be successful, how to be happy. People love talking about common hardships and giving unsolicited advice to their peers.
I'm not sure why this is. I think it makes us feel better about ourselves and more put together, that we can simply string together bullshit cliches and relay them to others with a half smirk and knowing nod. Well Lisa, you see, the key to losing weight is to cut out carbs from your diet completely... No, Lisa! No it's not. Because chances are that Bigmouth Brittany pops an Addy every morning and always eats carbs on the weekend.
And I mean it's not like we ever listen to such advice, right?
You pass that class by putting your phone on airplane mode while you're studying for a big test at the library, but instead you'll probably spend the majority of your time complaining to your group message about the obnoxious girl at the table next to you and taking Buzzfeed quizzes about your Disney princess porn star name. Or, you won't even make it to the library but rather give into the unbearable Thursday night FOMO and pray to God you'll manage to wake up before 10AM Friday morning.
You get over your ex by deleting his number and unfollowing both him and his new girlfriend on social media, yet if you have any common sense at all you will know that expecting this of a female is completely preposterous, no matter how hard we try.
In my unprofessional opinion, advice is overrated. Who actually knows the answers to life's toughest questions? Anyone can give advice, but nearly no one is qualified to give it. You don't always have to listen. In fact, I dare you not to. Often times the best outcomes derive not from others' opinions and suggestions, but rather your own gut and instincts.
Your friends who know you the most, your parents who constantly preach their older, "wiser" opinions, your teachers or professors who are experts in their respective fields; it is not that these people in your life are not knowledgeable about certain aspects. But no one knows you better than you know yourself.
Your best friend can tell you to cut ties and to walk away from the boy who screwed you over, but she has no idea how worth it it is to fight for the relationship except for you. Your parents can advise you not to not to take that internship in a different city or study abroad in Europe because they think you'll be homesick, but only you know how badly you want to start over or learn to be independent. Your professor can kindly suggest pursuing another major because you might not be cut out for that field, but he doesn't know how passionate about it you are, and anything done with passion can be successful.
Of course, the irony of this article is that at first glance it appears very much to be me giving you the very unsolicited advice I warned you of, and thus an aggravating paradox. So, in order to not blatantly contradict myself, I will say that I am, in fact, not advising you to not take advice from others (ie. If Sally advises you not to wear sparkly Uggs or drink expired milk, please listen). I am simply attempting to draw attention to your own intelligence and instincts. You know what's best for yourself and you should never act on someone else's opinion at the expense of your personal values and gut.
To summarize: you do you, my friends. You do you.
