Bring­ing to mind some­thing I wrote about last week (The Quar­ter­life Cri­sis), this advice to those 25 and over is more eti­quette les­son than anti­dote to the 20-something malaise.

It is time, if you have not already done so, for you to emerge from your cocoon of post-adolescent dither­ing and self-absorption and join the rest of us in the world. Past the quarter-century mark, you see, cer­tain actions, atti­tudes, and behav­iors will sim­ply no longer do, and while it might seem unpleas­ant to feign a matu­rity and solic­i­tous­ness towards oth­ers that you may not gen­uinely feel, it is not only appre­ci­ated by oth­ers but nec­es­sary for your con­tin­ued survival.

Three that par­tic­u­larly struck a chord:

  • Develop a phys­i­cal aware­ness of your sur­round­ings (“You […] need to learn to sense oth­ers and get out of their way.”).
  • Have some­thing to talk about besides col­lege or your job (“Be inter­ested so that you can be interesting”).
  • Rude­ness is not a sig­ni­fier of your impor­tance (“Be civil or be elsewhere”).

via Kot­tke