Don’t Take my Advice

There’s a lot of advice giving that goes on these days, especially on the internet, and I have been one of the foremost offenders of this trend. Some times my advice is requested through email, Facebook messages or the like, but most of the time, it’s unsolicited. I give this guidance without necessarily being asked because I want others to escape the mistakes I’ve made in my life. Over the last 11 months, I’d say my posts of advice have been accepted for the most part with only a few instances where I was ridiculed or subjected to offensive retaliations—but that’s just a price I’ve accepted to pay. If you’re brave enough to offer people advice on how to live their lives, your courage must hold steady against the backlash that comes at you from time to time. So it goes.

However, through all the advice that’s offered day after day by me and a million other Dr. Phil wannabes, it’s important to remember that though some who offer advice are qualified (I am only through experience since I lack any formal education), most are simply slinging these tidbits of “wisdom” from their proverbial hip (that’s me). Whether if it’s about relationships or life or Christianity, we reveal the revelations we’ve had because we want to share the things we’ve been given—at least that much is true of me. But who’s to say my words and my advice are unabashed truth? Who’s to say I’m not just some unmedicated madman who simply wishes to impose his will and beliefs upon those who read his work week after week? The truth is, you don’t know.

I wish I could tell you that you should just listen to me whenever I give guidance and follow blindly, but that is extremely irresponsible of one who has a platform to which people give attention. The truth remains that my words, my advice are not infallible. They should be questioned and your own answers should be sought, no matter how simple or rudimentary my advice may seem.
In all honesty, you can read all the advice in all the articles on all the blogs until you can’t see straight, but until you learn to search for the truth yourself and, in turn form your own opinions and beliefs, you will never learn to stand independently of the preaching masses.

It doesn’t matter who the writer or blogger (or even preacher/pastor/Church for that matter) is, you must never readily accept their advice or opinion as unparalleled truth without first searching for the answers and revelations yourself. To simply accept another’s voice or opinion as your own is not only irresponsible, but also dangerous. After all, we bloggers are just people who choose to share their advice, opinions, and beliefs. We are nothing more and nothing less. We’re also people whose opinions have been swayed one way or the other through the good things we’ve experienced or through the bad. Simply, our opinions have been formed through the living of our own lives, so for you to capture my opinion to use as your own without first researching it, can result in a cult-like confusion that leads to nothing but blind loyalty where nothing is questioned, only accepted.

We all have the bloggers we read religiously, but we should never follow them as such. They are merely flesh and blood just like you. So question what I tell you; question the advice you’re given and search for your own truth. Doing so will not only bring you to a better understanding of what you truly believe, but it will also allow you to think and feel for yourself.

And in these days of rampant, unsolicited opinions and advice, that is more valuable than we realize.

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