Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young.

On this day in 1997, the words that were immortalised by Baz Luhrmann “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)” are 14 years old.

The original article appeared in the Chicago Tribune entitled, “Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young”.

The author, Mary Schmich set out to write a fictitious graduation speech. “Most of us, will never be invited to sow our words of wisdom among an audience of caps and gowns”.

She invited her readership to do the same, 14-years later we take up that mantle and the #sunscreenchallenge was born.

Each blogger spent 1-hour creating a graduation speech. Essentially, it’s the advice that they’d pass onto school leavers today based on their own life experience. However as I came to this challenge late today I am going to deliberately keep it "short and sweet".

If you’ve enjoyed the blog – please RT the post, include the #sunscreenchallenge tag and find other blog posts using this hashtag.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of 2011

The piece of advice I find myself giving most often and I should like to share with you is "Don't let fear limit your achievements'. Over the years there have been many things that I wished I had done but didn't because I was scared. Mainly scared of failure or of looking a fool in front of others.

I frequently hear people described in incredibly glowing terms but then with the caveat of "but they lack confidence" added to describe why I might not see this in them and I am pretty sure that the same has been said of me too at times.

In fact there are often times in my life when I realise I am being overly cautious because of a fear of failure or a lack of confidence even now. But what I have learnt is that even those who appear confident often aren't so - they just hide it better than perhaps I think I do.

So my advice to you and, also still to myself at times, is when you are afraid of failure - give it a go - do your best and if it does go wrong, people are pretty forgiving, on the whole. And if you are afraid of looking a fool, (and lets be honest here - who isn't?) I have learnt that if you give it a go - there will usually be at least one person who says I am glad you did that, I really wanted to too. And the bizarre thing is that often when you do feel you have made a fool of yourself, perhaps by asking what you think of as an obvious question, others will invariably see you as being brave to ask what they were afraid to.

And finally confidence is like a muscle in the body - it grows the more you exercise it. So you will become more confident as you try things you were initially scared to do. Ok - some wont go right but you will learn from them. But more will probably go right than wrong, so you will become more confident.

I've also found that is much easier to be confident when you are being honest with the world - honest about who you are, what you like and what you think of things. It is also easier to be confident in yourself when you surround yourself with positive people who appreciate you for who you are. Value those people as they are a rare treasure in life.

And finally do look after your knees, you really will miss them if you mess them up! As I have recently found out too.

If you liked this post, please RT and use the hashtag #sunscreenchallenge.

Here is a list of bloggers who are participating in the #sunscreenchallenge. Please visit their blogs to view their posts!

@ADCC1978 http://passthenomad.wordpress.com
@astrotour2010 http://davidault.blogspot.com
@bainser http://www.bainser.com/
@baxfail http://baxfail.wordpress.com/
@chrisgolds http://www.achapcalledchris.blogspot.com
@donkeycolm http://thesearethethoughts-c.blogspot.com/
@guy_interruptd http://www.sexdrugssausagerolls.wordpress.com/
@kaiserraath kaiserraath.wordpress.com
@lucasowen85 http://lucasowen85.wordpress.com
@mjryandaly http://markryandaly.com/
@stitch_85 http://someonewicked.posterous.com/
@windsorbuoy http://www.windsorboy.com/
@peacockpete http://www.peacockpete.co.uk/
@squawkbox http://squawkbox.tumblr.com/
@thirtydegree http://wp.me/p1rxiF-1E
@textster http://noneofthekingsmen.wordpress.com
@LiamSE21 http://t.co/ePClV1U
@Paulbuca http://paulbuca.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/wear-sunscreen/
@DavidJamesWest http://davidjameswest.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/sunscreenchallenge/
@jamiezoob http://skylarkingzooby.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/sunscreen-challenge/
@deadliftbear http://bit.ly/kFkSV7

The original article can be found here

Are you listening to me?

Communicating with each other, although something we do virtually every day, really isn that easy is it?





I recently witnessed an exchange between two people I regularly "chat" with on Twitter as well as offline. Both are decent people, although they are very different. During this exchange what I expect started as humorous banter, albeit with a serious edge too, quickly degenerated into something far less pleasant. Both had their points to make, but I suspect that neither really "heard" what the other was saying. Matters became worse when other Twitter followers started to take sides, with one even going as far as threatening one of them. I looked on with sadness feeling that I could do little else. Eventually things calmed down but I suspect that by then people had become offended and/or upset.

Initially I was thinking "but why couldn't they see what the other was saying, why was it so important for each to convince the other, why did this seem to inflame people so quickly?" But then it struck me that I had been involved in a very similar exchange in real life a few days earlier. Suddenly my questions became "why couldn't I hear what the other person was saying, why was it so important for each of us to convince the other, why did we get so inflamed to quickly" What a change is perspective that was.

Did I then have a startling revelation that I can share, sadly not! But I did appreciate anew that when I communicate with others my emotions, past experiences and ego are very much part of those exchanges. I am seldom completely logical, even if I would like to think I am and should be. I also appreciated the need to listen and ask far more questions to understand others perspectives. And finally I recognised the need to forgive and ask for forgiveness when I forget the former and end up miscommunicating.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

How long...

...has it been since I last updated my blog? Sadly well over six months. Now is that because I have nothing to write about, No. It just I have too much to do so don't find time to sit and write. And also because I prefer the micro-blogging concept of Twitter. But it strikes me that I really should make more of an effort to blog about some of the things happening and my thoughts on them. Will they be profound, probably not. But for me the process of writing something down does help to clarify my thoughts. Which is a good enough reason to blog a bit more that I have been. So fingers crossed...


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad