All my life I’ve been told I’m a natural storyteller. Usually it was because I was able to verbally communicate with people in conversation and make whatever I was talking about sound exciting. After the publication of my book The Gathering Room - A Tale of Nelly Butler it became apparent that I was also able to tell a great written story. But it may also be that my mind is constantly overflowing with tidbits, antidotes and useless information. I read a lot. Constantly actually and mostly non fiction or history. So because of that I’m full of useless information. I’ve often said the only good thing about amassing all of this useless information is that it makes me interesting at a dinner party!

So when I saw a question posted online recently about “useless advice” I was intriqued. The question was…. What is a piece of advice that old people like to give, that is absolutely useless in 2023? Seeing as I am probably one of those “old people” I was really interested to know what, if anything, in my collection of wisdom and knowledge, someone else might think is useless. So I decided to read the comments section. That’s always fun!

Below are just the first ten answers. Remember this is advice that is apparently useless in 2023 (at least according to the first ten people to respond).

1. You need to EARN whatever you want.

2. You can be whatever you want to be.

3. Don’t use the phone in a thunderstorm.

4. Go read a book.

5. Work hard and study in school, it will pay off.

6. Wear clean underwear in case you’re in an accident.

7. Learn grammar.

8. Wait an hour after you eat to swim.

9. Turn off the car when you’re waiting in line to save gas.

10. Anything is possible if you just work hard enough.

Interesting don’t you think? I completely understand the shift in our culture, I am after all a student of history and have spent the majority of my life reading and learning about cultural shifts throughout a thousand years or so of time. Nothing stays the same, change is inevitable, and that includes how humans perceive their reality. Especially how one generation finds something absolutely necessary while the next finds it, well, useless.

I can think of an absolutely useless piece of advice that my grandmother, who lived to be 102 years old, gave me once. I’m 100% sure she didn’t think it was useless. To her, a young mother in the 1940’s when routines and regiments ruled, it made perfect sense. She told me “Babies must be bathed at 10:00 every morning.” This was so important to my grandmother, that she felt she needed to pass it on to the next generation, and yet to me it was absolutely useless advice! I raised five kids, four of them boys, and I can tell you no one was ever in the bathtub at 10:00 in the morning every single day. They were bathed every day, but the specific time varied…and everyone lived!

So I get it. With that understanding in mind I looked back over this list of useless advice in 2023 trying not to have a knee jerk reaction to some of these answer that were ruffling a few of my old lady feathers. Here’s the way I see them.

1. If you don’t earn what you want, then exactly how do you get what you want? Asking for a friend.

2. I just so happen to believe that you can be whatever you want to be. I always wanted to be an author. Did it!!

3. Personally I wouldn’t stand outside in a thunderstorm using a cellphone. Just sayin.

4. Please go read a book. I highly recommend The Gathering Room! But if that’s not your kind of book then please go read ANY book. Preferably an older one so you can learn from history and not repeat the mistakes made in the past.

5. Anything in life worth having, knowing, or experiencing is going to require that you work hard to acquire, learn or attain it. That’s just the way it is. And please stay in school, but learn a trade! The world desperately needs plumbers, electricians, carpenters and mechanics!! You’ll be a superstar!

6. This one was my mother’s favorite! I heard it all the time. Accident or not it’s just good hygiene to wear clean underwear. No one likes a seat picker.

7. In this age of AI (artificial intelligent) it could be argued that grammar might not be as important as in the past. I’ll give in to that as far as the written word is concerned. But please learn to speak correctly. The art of a good conversation is already almost completely lost. If we lose the ability to speak to each other using correct word usage then all will be lost for sure.

8. Because I hated this swimming rule when I was a child I always let my own children jump right back into the pool immediately after eating….again, everyone lived!

9. As a child that lived through the gas shortages of the 1970’s I understand where this came from. But I drive a hybrid now, so agreeing with this one, useless.

And that brings us to number 10.

Let me just say this is the one that gut punched me. The useless advice in #10 was Anything is possible if you just work hard enough. That is useless advice?

To me that phrase is the power behind this incredible journey I’m on right now! Dream big people! Don’t let anyone tell you that your dreams are to big! Don’t believe them if they tell you that you can’t accomplish whatever it is that you imagine. Because you can do anything you set your mind to!! It’s hard work to live out a dream, but trust me anything is possible if you want to put the work in. Absolutely ANYTHING. If you can imagine it and you are willing to take a step in that direction every single day, day after day, no matter how many years it takes, you will accomplish whatever you set out to do.

Anything really is possible and that’s not useless advice. It’s called hope, belief and confidence. And those three things can change your life.