Recently, I asked my Facebook friends to give me advice for my 7th graders. Here’s what my friends have learned in their 30 years of growing up since 7th grade.

• Be cool to everyone because there’s a good chance you will either marry, work with, or work for one of them one day.
• “It’s not about the shoes, it’s about what you can do in them.” – Michael Jordan
• The stuff you are worried about is probably the wrong stuff.
• Everywhere you go, leave it better than you found it.
• Sometimes it’s best to just take the butt whoopin’ you deserve and move on.
• The prettiest girls are the ones you don’t notice right away.
• The measure of success you hold now won’t be the same in 20 years. Be good to everyone. Many who aren’t “successful” now will be very successful in 20 years.
• If you want to know what you are like, look around at the people you hang with.
• You can pick you friends, you can pick your nose, but don’t ever ever pick your friend’s nose.
• The person who chooses not to read is no better off than the person who can’t read.
• Manners matter! Always.
• How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
• Some days you are the dog, and some days you are the fire hydrant. That’s life.
• There is no such thing as normal…it is only a setting on the dryer.
• Never miss a good chance to shut up.
• “20 years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Leave the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sail. Explore. Discover. Dream.” ~ Mark Twain
• Those who hate you don’t win, unless you hate them back.
• Sometimes you just have to accept that “It is what it is” and sometimes you should fight it. Pray for the wisdom to know the difference.
• “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou