My five rules for adult hood

Today I decided to take a page out of Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project - and list some of my rules for adulthood. Her rules are a little more set in stone, but as of July 2019, I’m sticking with these five for starters.

Please forgive any errors, as I’ve misplaced my progressives…..

1. Remember where I put my progressives

It is a weird, weird thing to have 20/20 vision your entire life, only to have the world gradually turn blurry. My parents both had reading glasses by the time they were 45 so it stood to reason the same would happen for me. I first realized the blurriness when I was snuggling Rooney and had to move my head further away for his nose to be in focus.

Now I’m playing trombone every time someone hands me a sheet of paper with a font less than 12pt.

Why does anyone need to print in a font less than 12 pt?

Also, I guess this isn’t so much a rule as it as a wish. And a need for a second pair of progressives….

1.5. Never pass up a chance to pee

If you take nothing else from this post, remember this rule. It should actually be the first rule, but I’m not rearranging the order of my rules now, so I made this rule number one point five.

Because these are my rules dammit. (Sorry Mom, that I said dammit).

Pelvic floor health be damned (I’m swearing a lot here Mom, sorry), this lesson was never so important as during my many years traveling in vans and buses as both a player and a coach.

You think you don’t have to pee when everyone else does at that rest stop in rural New Mexico, but you can be damn sure you’ll have to go when you’re stuck in a traffic jam.

Or when the plane takes off and there’s turbulence and then the flight attendant is in the aisle and you spend most of the flight trying to decide when you should pee and whether or not to disrupt the sleeping man next to you….

3. Be kind, (but especially with coffee….)

Yesterday, I bought a coffee for the woman behind me at Starbucks. I’ve taken great pleasure in paying coffee forward at least once a month, and the range of reactions is fascinating. The very first time I paid for the drink of the lady in line behind me, she just stared at me suspiciously.

“Why are you buying my coffee?”

Because there’s not enough kindness in this world.

4. Take time to watch the fireflies.

Last night, after a long day at work I was climbing the stairs when Sheila called to me to come and look out our front window. There was a firefly, bouncing its way up and down the window, and behind it, about a dozen more. We shut off the lights and watched the dozens of fireflies in the field outside our house.

One of the great things about where we live is an abundance of fireflies and a very clear sky with bright stars.

Take time to watch the fireflies.

5. Give five hugs a day. (Or just one to start with)

This is a new rule and one that I think came from the book itself. Or a podcast. With a quick google search, hugs apparently can lower the risk of heart disease and your stress levels. Also according to the google, we need four hugs a day for survival, eight hugs a day for maintenance and 12 hugs a day for growth….but I’m going to start with at least one. And yes, my dog counts. (So I put on my progressives so I can better see his nose and I hug him).

You never know when someone’s hug tank is running low - so ask permission first, but give out more hugs.

Bonus rule - be silly.

I learned this one from my dad very early on. Have fun with words, read Dr. Seuss as an adult, watch cartoons, get down on the floor to play with kids, keep a chicken puppet named Weezy in your office drawer (third one down if you’re curious), but whatever you do, be silly and don’t take yourself too seriously.