advice for young people

the other day, walking back after a long day of showings and oddities, we were stopped on the street by some of my grandmother's old neighbors. i mean old in all senses of the word. ladies in their late eighties, delighted at how young we, my mother included, all were.

as we got chatting with them, something quite interesting happened. one of their phones rang - a flip phone, a growing rarity - and she became distracted, explaining on the phone how she'd slipped and fallen but was alright now.
but the other one, she seemed to come to life (and light), taking advantage of her friend being distracted and not being able to monopolize the conversation, she got a devious glint in her eye and started talking to me and my brother.
as the designated young people de jour, she told us to enjoy our respective ages, sure, but more so to not care.
Not care what anybody has to say, or what anyone thinks about our lives. As long as the thing you choose to do is making you happy, makes you shine, then there's no good reason to let yourself be stopped from doing it.

follow the soul.

whether it upsets other people, or perhaps doesn't sit right with their ideas of you, then so be it, but your life is yours and you owe it to yourself to find something that truly makes your soul sing. you know. while you're still kicking.

don't leave it till you get my age, she seemed to say. because fewer and fewer soul-singers come as you get older, and you risk missing your chance. only a small handful of truly amazing things come along in a human life - don't miss yours.

while in the moment, i found myself just sort of nodding along, the more i thought about it, the more i loved the advice. not just because it's the sort of thing i really resonate with, but also because this little old lady saw her chance and took it.

we've lost respect for our elders, we've lost need of them, in a sense, or think we have anyway, which is killing this world quite rapidly. i loved that seeing an opportunity to impart some of her hard-earned wisdom, this lady took it without hesitating.

go find something that makes the soul sing.

that's quite good advice now, isn't it?

it got me thinking. i do think i'm following the things that light up my soul. as for wisdom, i'm perhaps too young to impart it. what about you, though?

is there something you would consider earned wisdom that you'd like to impart to your children or youth in general?

and also, are you following your soul? :)