Advice

Advice can be a hard pill to swallow. 

The amazing thing to me about advice is not so much that people don’t heed the advice given to them by various people in their lives, but that they will take the very SAME advice given to them by another source.

You know what I’m talking about – it’s that phenomenon when you give a friend or loved one a particular piece of advice, and they dismiss it.  Yet someone else can tell them the exact same thing and they suddenly listen.

I’m sure there are a variety of reasons why this happens – perhaps we don’t trust what that person is telling us or more likely we don’t like the advice they are doling out.  As many a counseling professional can attest, people often have to learn the hard way.  We humans can be a hard-headed bunch.

Often, it is the source that will determine whether someone will listen or not – if it’s a parent or family member, we tend to reject it since they are so close to us – or we feel they don’t understand us or what we are going through.  Yet if a trusted friend, therapeutic professional or even new acquaintance say’s the same words, that person jumps on the advice train and rides it all the way to the station.

I’ve had this happen before – and it can be a frustrating experience.  It makes you want to shake your head and say, “I told you that already.  You didn’t listen!”  But the truth is they did listen…they just didn’t like what you had to say.

So perhaps the best lesson here is the next time someone asks you for advice just tell them “You’ll figure it out.  I love you.”  That might be the greater piece of wisdom.