Arjun Mahadevan gave the world a gift when he crowdsourced the best “life pro tips” from nearly 22 million people. He shared the top 20 in a Twitter thread that’s got over 619,000 views. Mahadevan sourced the tips from the Life Pro Tips subforum on Reddit, which has been running since 2010. Mahadevan is the CEO of doolaHQ which he calls the “business-in-a-box” for LLCs.Mahadevan labeled his advice “20 life tips you wish you knew when you were 20,” but they are helpful for everyone regardless of age. They’re useful for anyone who is in a relationship, has a job, or wants to stay sane in an aggravating world.Many ideas involve reframing how we judge others to see them with more compassion. Mahadevan also has some advice for professionals to prevent them from making embarrassing mistakes or wasting other people’s time.Sometimes the simplest change in behavior or perspective can drastically affect our lives. Here are Arjun Mahadevan’s 20 life tips you wish you knew when you were 20: \u201cMost life hacks suck. \n \nSo I crowdsourced the best from 21.9 million people on Reddit.\n\nHere are 20 life tips you wish you knew when you were 20:\u201d — Arjun Mahadevan (Mr. LLC \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) (@Arjun Mahadevan (Mr. LLC \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8)) 1680094330 1. "If you’re stuck on an annoying call, put your phone on airplane mode instead of just hanging up. The other person will see 'call failed' instead of 'call ended.'" 2. "When you sign up for anything online, put the website’s name as your middle name. That way when you receive spam/advert emails, you will know who sold your info." 3. "Always tell a child who is wearing a helmet how cool you think their helmet is. It will encourage them to always wear it in the future."4. "When you don't have all the facts, try to give people the most generous reason you can for their behavior. Annoyingly slow driver? Maybe it's a mom with a birthday cake in the back. This mindset will gradually make you less reactive and more compassionate."5. "Do not try to be the man your father would want you to be. Be the man you would like your son to be. It more clearly defines your own convictions, desires, goals and motivates you to be your best." 6. "When a friend is upset, ask them one simple question before saying anything else: 'Do you want to talk about it or do you want to be distracted from it?'"7. "After a bad breakup, do 10 things that your ex would never do with you. You'll feel better and realize how much of yourself was being held back." 8. "Before you give your child a unique name, try it out first. Use it on food orders, reservations, appointments where applicable, etc. It’ll give you a glimpse of what they’ll deal with when they’re older and could prevent future issues."9. "If you need to cancel a hotel reservation but are unable to because of a 24-hour policy, call the company and move your reservation to a later date. Call back within a few days and cancel for no charge." 10. "If you tell someone you need to talk to them, for the love of God give some indication of what you need to talk about, or at least that it's not bad news."11. "Never send a work email when you’re emotionally compromised. Type it up, save it as a draft, and walk away. Ideally, sleep on it. You’ll make a smarter choice when you're not heated."12. "Don't just let kids win at games. You can slow it down, you can teach them strategy, but keep it real. Someday, they will beat you fair and square, and it will be a moment they always remember with pride."13. "When cooking things on aluminum foil, first scrunch the foil up, then lay it loosely flat again out on your baking tray. The juices will stay put—and the food will not stick to the foil half as much, if at all."14. "If you think of a good idea, write it down. Your brain will try to trick you into thinking you will remember it later, but it's a liar! Therefore: Write it down!"15. "It takes 4 minutes a day and almost no cost to maintain dental hygiene. It takes a lifetime and a lot of money to correct it. 2-minute brush and mouthwash in the AM, 2-minute brush and floss in the PM."16. "Don’t wait until you have 'time' to start a fitness program. Because then when you get busy again, you’ll stop. The best time to start is actually when you’re busy. Learning how to fit it in when times are tough means you’ll stick with it over the long haul."17. "When using text messages or IMs for business, say everything you need to say in the first message. Don’t just say 'hi' or 'hey' or 'are you there' or 'are you busy.'"18. "Instead of feeling that you've blown the day and thinking, 'I'll get back on track tomorrow, think of each day as a set of four quarters:• Morning• Midday• Afternoon• EveningIf you blow one quarter, you get back on track for the next quarter." 19. "Many problems in marriage are really just problems with being a bad roommate. Learn how to be a good roommate, and it will solve many of the main issues that plague marriages. This includes communicating about something bothering you before you get too angry." 20. "Ask yourself 'what does it matter to me' the next time you find yourself judging someone for their clothing or hobbies. The more you train yourself to not care about the personal preferences of other people, the more relaxed and nicer you become as a person."This article originally appeared last year.

Part of what makes L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, such an enduring story—providing inspiration for countless other books, movies, television shows, musicals and beyond—is its compelling, dynamic, self-possessed female characters…which is all the more impressive when you remember that women weren’t even allowed to vote at the time of Baum writing it.And yes, while the kind, compassionate, and brave Dorothy is certainly compelling in her own right, we all know that it’s the witches that really leave us spellbound. Both Glinda of the North and the Wicked Witch of the West (or Galinda and Elphaba, for Wicked fans) have given us a lasting image for the complex theme of good and evil.via GIPHYBut very few know that these witches, or our current views of witches in general, might have never been conjured up in the first place, had it not been for an unsung hero of the 19th-century women’s rights movement, who just so happened to be Baum’s mother-in-law—Matilda Electa Joslyn Gage.Gage was a suffragette who co-founded National Woman Suffrage Association along with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. However, unlike her well-known cohorts, Gage was much more outwardly combative. In 1886 she famously showed up to the unveiling of the Statue of Liberty on a cattle barge with a megaphone, shouting that it was “a gigantic lie, a travesty and a mockery” to portray liberty as a woman when actual American women had so few rights. Unlike Anthony Stanton, Gage also supported the 15th Amendment, and sheltered runaway slaves, and became a beloved ally to local Indigenous tribes, who adopted her as one of their own.Gage would eventually cut ties with Anthony and Stanton after they aimed to get the support of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, an organization which wasn’t as much fighting for women’s rights as it was trying to dismantle the separation of church and state and make America a “dry and moral” country. And instead, she created a new group called the National Women’s Liberal Union.During her time as an activist, Gage railed against religious leaders and politicians for oppressing women by accusing them of heresy and witchcraft. This is a theme most of us are extremely familiar with, thanks to her. While writing her revolutionary manifesto Woman, Church and State: The Original Exposé of Male Collaboration Against the Female Sex in 1893, Gage became an expert on the centuries long witch-hunts that forced women to be put to death by fire, hanging, torture, drowning or stoning. And she spared no expense when it came to depicting those scenes, or her thoughts about them. m.media-amazon.com For example, she wrote about 400 women burning all at once in a French public square “for a crime which never existed save in the imagination of those persecutors and which grew in their imagination from a false belief in woman’s extraordinary wickedness.”For Gage, the link between religion and oppression was unseverable. “As soon as a system of religion was adopted which taught the greater sinfulness of women, the saying arose: One wizard for every 10,000 witches, and the persecution for witchcraft became chiefly directed at women.”And how exactly did Gage’s male critics respond to her message? By calling her a “satanist” and a “heretic.” Thus proving her point, really. Though Baum didn’t instantly win over his fierce mother-in-law, over the years she did become a spiritual mentor to him, not to mention his muse on multiple levels. First off, Gage was the one who encouraged Baum to actually write down his whimsical tales in the first place, which previously he only spoke aloud with his children. Second, Baum was fascinated by her evocative descriptions of witches, and the feminist ideals they represent, which we undoubtedly see in his work. His wizard coerces Dorothy into killing a fellow woman, the Wicked Witch of the West, and then is revealed to be an empty god. And then, through the help of another woman, Glinda the Good Witch, Dorothy learns the power was inside her all along. Third, Gage introduced Baum to The Theosophical Society, which was basically an amalgamation of Buddhist and Hindu principles that spoke of following life’s golden path to enlightenment and would later be represented by the Yellow Brick Road.via GIPHYLastly, it was Gage who suggested incorporating the tornado that would take Dorothy off to Oz in the first place. Cause how else was she gonna get there?And to think, none of this show’s up in Gage’s measly 205-word New York Times obituary, stationed below Tiffany & Co. ad which simply credits her for being “one of the earliest champions of woman’s rights in America.” In fact, it wasn’t until new research was found, mostly in the form of newspaper writings by Baum and as unpublished letters from Gage, that people began to link her to his work. Gage’s unwavering radical views removed her from her rightful place in history, especially due to deliberate actions taken by Susan B. Anthony to distance Gage and her “dangerous” ideas from the suffragist movement altogether. But through the work of her son-in-law, she formed a different kind of legacy—one that continues to inspire women everywhere to click their heels three times and find their own courage, value their empathy, and believe in the power of their own intelligence.

Even though life looks different for the Willis family this year, that’s not stopping them from getting into the Christmas spirit. Emma Heming Willis decorated her Christmas tree with Mabel, 12, and Evelyn, 10. She shared a sweet video of the family’s holiday decorating on Instagram. We didn’t get a chance to see Bruce Willis this go around, but it’s very clear Emma wants to be sure their girls have a Merry Christmas. Since Bruce’s diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia in 2022, his family, including ex-wife Demi Moore, have rallied around the father of five girls. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Emma Heming Willis (@emmahemingwillis) Emma Heming Willis’ Home Is Filled With Christmas Cheer Emma first shared a reel of herself getting started with the decorating solo. She strung lights around her enormous tree as The Waitresses’ Christmas Wrapping played. She captioned the post, “Bah humbug to stringing Christmas lights! And if anyone says I should have started from the top…those are fighting words.” A fan quickly chimed in, “It’s BEAUTIFUL!!! Wasn’t it therapeutic??? And didn’t you feel a GREAT sense of accomplishment??? I say, position yourself somewhere with a nice beverage & a dessert and admire your work. Reminder….. WE ADMIRE YOU.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Emma Heming Willis (@emmahemingwillis) In the next reel, Emma Heming Willis’ girls joined her to put ornaments and decorations on the branches. This time, she chose RUN DMC’s Christmas in Hollis as the soundtrack. She captioned this post, “Part 2! How’d we do?” Fans loved it. Someone wrote, “Gorgeous tree! You guys decorated it perfectly! Merry Christmas!” This person agreed, “Beautiful Family and beautiful tree. Merry Christmas.” A fan left kind words for the whole family, “A wonderful Christmas tree is a special time, so I wish the whole Willis family health and wonderful moments. Also all the most beautiful things for all the fans of the wonderful Willis family.” “Great job ladies, it’s beautiful! Merry Christmas to your family,” another fan wrote.   This story’s featured image is by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Film at Lincoln Center. The post Bruce Willis & Emma Heming Willis’ Daughters Make This Year’s Christmas Tree Extra Special  appeared first on InspireMore.

Yasmina Elmerkaoui, a beauty influencer and founder of Merkau, is getting a lot of love on TikTok because she reminds everyone that there is more than one way to respond to an apology. Sometimes, all you have to do is say, “Thank you.” If you were the one who was wronged, why does someone get to control your reaction just because they apologized?Her thoughts were eye-opening to many people conditioned to give a knee-jerk “It’s okay” response when someone apologizes, even though what they ask forgiveness for probably isn’t “okay.” Elmerkaoui shared her thoughts on a September 2024 episode of the “Hanging for More” podcast she hosts with Maggie Younan. What's the best way to respond to an apology?“I’ve taught my kids to say, ‘Thank you for apologizing,’ rather than, ‘That’s OK,’ because the behavior isn’t OK,” Elmerkaoui says. “The apology is welcomed, so it also draws a line and reminds you, no, no, no, that isn’t OK.” @hangingformorepodcast How to respond to “sorry” ? Elmerkaoui’s response provides a solid distinction between thanking someone for admitting they were wrong without going so far as condoning their actions. The “thank you” response is also a way to prevent people from acting out of line again. If you tell someone their bad behavior is “okay, " they are more likely to do it again, causing a terrible cycle of poor behavior and apologies. “It reminds everyone else in their life as well that the apology is welcome, but the behavior isn’t okay and I won’t accept it,” she continues.Elmerkaoui doesn’t expect an “It’s okay” even from her own son because she believes it teaches him poor boundaries. “They say the same to me, like, ‘Thank you for apologizing,’” she goes on. “I’ll even pull them up if they say, ‘That’s okay.’ Noah, especially, he’s such a mama’s boy, he’s like, ‘Mom, that’s okay, you did nothing wrong.’ And I’m like, “No, I did.”“This is so important. It’s not ok to mistreat others and hide behind an apology. It becomes a cycle,” Rafaela wrote in the comments. “There’s power in saying ‘I forgive you’ too when you genuinely do, but absolutely never ‘it’s fine,’” Allison added.Some people had never even considered simply saying thank you. “Why have I never thought of this? I've been actively thinking of what a better response would be. I'm trying to stop saying "it's okay,’” Kaitlin wrote. Karina Schumann, a psychology professor who studies conflict resolution, apologies, and forgiveness at the University of Pittsburgh, agrees with Elmerkaoui’s approach but stresses that we respond to the apology authentically. “It’s important to be genuine without being hostile,” says Schumann. “Research shows that using a ‘constructive voice’ — where you voice your concerns in a positive, calm way — is the most effective way to invite behavioral changes and better relationships. Sweeping things under the rug and pretending to forgive when you’re not ready are not going to fix the problem.”Yasmina Elmerkaoui’s simple yet powerful apology approach brought up a meaningful conversation about authenticity and boundaries. Her advice to shift from saying “It’s okay” to “Thank you” encourages a healthier dynamic that doesn’t condone bad behavior but places a high value on accountability. It acknowledges the hurt while bringing things to a sincere resolution. Elmerkaoui’s advice reminds us that we may not be able to control how people treat us, but we have complete power over how we respond.

Once again, the youngins are flabbergasting the older generations with their disregard for once-important things they now deem unnecessary. There's always something that gets dropped or altered generation to generation. We learn better ways or technology makes certain things obsolete. But it doesn't matter how far we've come, our beds still need sheets to cover the mattress.The debate is on the use of top sheets, also known as flat sheets. They're the sheets that keep your body from touching the comforter, most Gen X and Boomers are firmly for the use of top sheets as a hygiene practice. The idea being that the top sheet keeps your dead skin cells and body oils from dirtying your comforter, causing you to have to wash it more often. Apparently, Millennials and Gen Zers are uninterested in using a top sheet while sleeping. In fact, they'd rather just get a duvet cover, though they may be cumbersome. A duvet cover can be washed fairly frequently, but some may opt for a simple comforter, a cheaper option that should be washed even more often. Still, many young people don't care how much more frequently they'll need to wash their comforters because their distain for a top sheet is that strong. But why on earth do Millennials and Gen Zers hate top sheets? It turns out it's mostly about practicality. Many Millennials are on the move holding a full-time job and a side hustle or two to make ends meet. To add an extra step when making the bed seems unnecessary. “For a younger demographic, eliminating that step when making the bed in the morning really gives you a jump start on the day," Ariel Kay, CEO of Parachute tells Wall Street Journal. Parachute is a company that offers bedding sets sans top sheets for folks who just don't like them and, boy, has Kay heard everyone's unsolicited opinions on the matter. She told WSJ that people will stop her on the street to get into debates about the importance or unimportance of top sheets. Yikes.In a since deleted tweet, @JesseLynnHarte writes, "People say millennials “killed” chain restaurants, marriage, & napkins... But WHEN will they acknowledge our greatest take-down yet?? TOP SHEETS. I don’t know a single millennial who uses one. Top sheets are archaic. This is just the truth."It would seem that Millennials and Gen Z would much rather wash their duvet covers weekly than to add a flat sheet into the mix. One big complaint about the flat sheet that adds another con to the list is they get bunched up or tangled around your legs if you're a restless sleeper. Not everyone likes hotel tucked corners on their sheets because it can feel confining.But if you run hot, Boomers and Gen Xers might be onto something with the top sheet. It would seem that that thin piece of material that irritates some people can help control your body temperature according to USA Today. Even if you don't tend to need the cooling effect of a top sheet, what Mary Johnson, Tide Principal Scientist at Procter & Gamble has to say in a USA Today follow up article, just may make you rethink ditching the top sheet.Simply by existing, "people produce one liter of sweat, 40 grams of sebum, 10 grams of salt, and 2 billion skin cells. All that stuff that happens below the waist [and] up by your head—skincare products, hair care products, ear wax, snot, drool, lots of really gross stuff—is transferred to your sheets," Johnson tells the outlet. So whether you're team top sheet or not, it may be a good idea to at least wash whatever you use to cover your bed at least once a week. This article originally appeared in March.