The McVie Show Season 4

In 1999 the director of then-to-be-made Moulin Rouge, Mr. Baz Luhrmann, had a spoken-word hit entitled “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)”. It’s just him reading off a long list of words of advice, much like Desiderata but more practical—and with music. Of the myriad ones he mentioned the following are my top ten, in the order that they were mentioned:

1. Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours. (Hmmm. I don’t think I’ve had much practice with this one.)

2. Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives; some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t. (There are instances when this question is really at the forefront of my mind—usually when I’m behind the wheel, driving to or from work.)

3. What ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either—your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.

4. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own. (Good luck; I have low body image.)

5. Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly. (And yet I still look at all these great looking, uber-sexy male models with their washboard abs and groan to myself. I know it’s not healthy for my self-esteem, but still I do it.)

6. Get to know your parents; you never know when they’ll be gone for good. (Goodbye Daddy; thank god Mommy’s still quite healthy.)

7. Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future. (Check! But this does not include spouses, like a husband who doesn’t exactly go out of his way to make us like him. But that’s his right, I suppose.)

8. Understand that friends come and go; but for the precious few, you should hold on. (I really like friends who you can take for granted and vise versa.)

9. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young. (But here’s the caveat; take someone for granted just a little too much, and you may lose them.)

10. Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85. (Thank god I didn’t start messing with my hair and using products until I was 39 years old, hahaha.)

Sigh. If only life were as easy as dispensing and following advice.