The best advice I was given about moving to Australia was "Look to the right before crossing the road". Jeremy's brother D'Arcy imparted this pearl of wisdom before we departed and it was extremely useful in not getting smashed into smithereens when crossing the street!
All of us give and get advice from time to time. Some of it is good (and we don't always follow it). Some of it is not so good. In the end, people will generally do what they're going to do. More than one person suggested to me that I might want to wait until Jeremy finished his (FOUR YEARS!) of medical school before I went for my Master's. In some ways, that was sound advice but I honestly feel like my spirit would have been crushed by the time that was over and I would have felt like I was stagnating instead of working towards a goal. I also wouldn't have met some of my wonderful speechie friends! Someone else said "Don't make friends with other expats when you move to Australia. You'll get a better experience if you make friends with the Aussies". I've met heaps of friends, mostly Australian but also from other countries. Why would I close myself off to an entire group of people?
One of my physio coworkers recently had a baby and I feel that's where people get tons of advice - from everyone they come across! I don't understand why people feel obligated to tell the person how crappy the first few weeks are going to be, how little sleep you'll get, how much crying there will be, how difficult breast feeding can be, etc etc etc etc. Isn't that kind of common knowledge? And who knows, maybe they'll get lucky and have an easy baby! In any case, it's a bit late for the person to change their mind. People should sometimes keep their thoughts, advice, and opinions to themselves on certain subjects (unless asked for!)
When we travel, we always like to seek out advice from people who have been to our destination. When we arrive there, we ask people in cafes, shops, wineries, etc for recommendations about things to do, places to see, where to eat. In doing this, we've come across many hidden gems. I think it's always a good idea to get tips from people - and then you can pass those things on to others.
Advice is a funny thing. There are some topics I would rather steer completely clear of - but if anyone wants advice about moving to Australia, studying in Australia, or places to travel in Australia - I feel that I'm pretty well equipped :)
Haha. I love that cartoon, it's great! Very good point, we're quite interesting creatures human beings - always feeling the need to give advice whether it be wanted or not. Lol.
ReplyDeleteAnd sometimes asking for advice because we want to be told we're making the right decision even when we know we're not!
DeleteLove the crossing the street advice. Now, that's useful!
ReplyDeleteSo true about people giving advice when you have a baby. By the end of my pregnancy, I just shut off the part of my brain that accepts advice. I got so annoyed with people offering advice like it was the letter of the law because I thought, "well, that was your experience, but I don't see how that's relevant to me and a baby we haven't even met, yet." I know people mean well, but it's so not useful!
It was simple advice but quite useful!
DeleteI feel like by the end of a pregnancy, you would have to keep yourself from blatantly rolling your eyes at all the 'helpful' advice!
We all like to assume that our experience will be the same as someone elses... and it's just not true, is it? I really like your attitude towards advice- take some, give some, use some, ignore some. What else can you do, really?
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