Fifty Recent Life Lessons

I’m pretty sure we’ve all had a roller-coaster year, with some unexpected twists and turns, highs and lows, even a few of us experiencing some derailments. You'd have to live under a rock to not think something was different about 2008. I’ve long ago given up on New Year’s Resolutions, but I do take time to reflect upon the past year.

There’s tons of stuff I didn’t know last year at this time, that I know now. I find it’s fun keep a list of the fifty lessons I learned each year. Today, I was thinking about, how many of those revelations (not all of them) came from the half year I‘ve spent on hub pages, and that it might be fun to share my list:

• At the top of my list, is learning the hard way, that just because you don’t have a lump, doesn’t mean you don’t already have invasive breast cancer. Expanding that life-altering tidbit of knowledge, there’s a whole lot about having breast cancer that you don’t hear about. Personally, I’m very grateful to be alive, not going through chemo, and not missing that boob, near as much as I thought I would. Ladies don’t skip your mammograms!
• I’m never going to get my one remaining nipple pierced. Actually, I always knew that, but after having ten nipple piercings in a row, in a nuclear medicine test to find where my lymph nodes ran off to, all over the course of three hours -- I feel very qualified to point out that it really hurts, to any young person with crazy ambitions of self-decoration. Just in case you need a second opinion, I've linked a few hubs for your convenience.
• Your life can change in an instant. I had a successful business, one that I worked so hard to build. It was derailed with one phone call from my doctor when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. While, this too falls into the category of things I already knew -- It was a good swift punch in the belly of making life priorities real. As much as it hurts, was probably a good thing. Failure stinks, but it's not the end of the world, if there are things to be learned from it.
• Never buy a house without checking out the seller (a future hub). This lesson goes hand-in-hand with never selling your house, without having already closed on the new one.
• Life goes on, in the mist of all the problems, life as it always has, continues with and without you. My 2008 reminder came in March, when my second granddaughter was born in Hong Kong. I couldn't be there for her birth, but I'm awfully glad she's here. Her birth was the best part of 2008 for me.

• Scientists have finally confirmed what I learned as a child, that animals are a lot more emotionally complex than we humans are willing to admit.
• Like fellow hubber, Aya Katz, my grandmother raised a chimpanzee for a number of years. Unlike Aya, her efforts were not as noble or scientific, just misguidedly humane, because she couldn't bear for him to live under the conditions she first found him in. I've learned a lot this past year from reading about Bow, and other news regarding chimpanzees and how they learn.
• Having a bear run at us at top speed this year, I've made it my business to know that if the bear is close to you unexpectedly, and you cannot bypass it or return the way you came -- wait for the bear to go in another direction.
• Coyotes can swim. I witnessed this in both Costa Rica and Panama, proving once again no matter how much you think you know, there's always something you don't know.
• You are never too old to put old phobias to rest. I still hate spiders, but thanks to the Bard of Ely -- I'm getting better at looking at them in a new light.

• The Internet is making me smarter every day. I'm saving this bit o'knowledge for the next time my husband complains that I spend too much time on the computer, instead of watching television with him. I don't watch much TV, as it makes me sleepy, and I'd rather read or do something, anything.
• YouTube and other such videos, get the most traffic soon after they are posted. Half of them get the majority of their views in the first two weeks. I'm thinking "Fifteen Minutes of Fame" translates to "Fourteen Days of Fame" if you can tell a story in pictures and play your favorite music to it?
• Nobody has exactly spelled this out for me, but judging from the number of hubs that have to do with Google -- Google knows everything. Apparently, if you can't google it, it is you that has a big problem.
• Sometimes you need to update your old skills, such as speed reading. Growing up in southern California, speed reading was required curriculum. Today, you need to speed read RSS style.
• Keep up and learn to speak the technovations language of the generations younger than you, if you are writing hubs. Otherwise you'll be left in the dust with the rest of the boomer generation, scratching your head when youngsters make text messaging chat acronyms, and leave emoticons in their comments and conversations.

• With a metal plate and six screws holding my left leg together for the last twelve years, I've had a lot of time to contemplate why it's important to be as mobile as possible. So, when I read in our local paper, that there is a high rate of people who have had knee and joint replacements having to go back for a re-do -- I'm going to be a whole lot more careful about not rolling down any more hills (another future hub).
• Some things make my list of things I learned again and again, and they apply to all years. That truism applies to the subject of melanoma. When I wrote a hub about the boy who took me to the prom, I learned a few new things about a subject I thought I knew well. One of the facts, is that wearing flip-flops gives you a much greater risk of getting this disease, on the tops of your feet. Even more alarming, only half of those who develop it, survive. Don't give up your flip-flops, but also don't forget to put sunscreen on the tops of your feet everyday!
• Stress kills us one brain cell at a time. That's just my opinion, but scientists discovering that even pre-natal stress changes the brain, really makes you think.
• I learned about lot of modern day pain medicine, when they ask you how bad it hurts on a scale of one to ten, always go for the higher number. This only applies immediately after surgery, once you are on the mend, always practice common sense and go for the real ways to manage pain.
• No matter how addicted you are to your computer, the Internet, and hubbing -- you must practice good health first.

• Science has now said, women bosses with female employees cause stress. Male supervisors equal less stress in your life (well, maybe sometimes, I know I've had a few exceptions). Still, this is another thing I knew at a gut and experience level, but now there is scientific proof -- plus anyone who reads pgrundy's many fine hubs on the topic, can get the unvarnished scoop.
• Here is a lesson I didn’t get the first time around raising five kids through their teens, but get now with my granddaughter in the house. Kids aren’t awed when you try to converse like a pre-teen or teen. By the time you comprehend their jargon, it’s no longer cool. Besides it’s a lot like understanding English and pretending you don’t -- you can learn a lot from those who are dumb enough to think you don‘t have a clue what they are talking about, if you stick to your first language.
• Other hubbers can confirm your suspicions and help you reclaim your sanity. I was becoming paranoid about the banking industry, thinking "these things only seem to happen to me," then along comes Is Your Money Safe in a Bank?
• Don't use your debit card to pay for airline fares or other international travel.
• I've always seen the "cup of life" half full, but now I know it's also important to occasionally "empty the cup" and wash it out.

• Just today, I learned that you can use a banana peel to shine your shoes.
• I used to work for a private detective who ran a sideline business in the nasty world of repos. I know where repo cars used to go, but I never dreamed it was farther than south of the border, until I read, about repossessed automobiles are showing up in Russia.
• I understand that I am a visual learner, I found it fascinating to learn visually What $315 billion looks like.
• Everything has a use, like who knew recycled propane tanks could be made into lamps? Apparently, Patty English did, and it tickles me to have learned something that my husband didn't know.
• I learned a little from reading one hub -- Speaking Spanish - 7 Words Everyone Ought to Know and Use with Caution -- Growing up near the border of Mexico, this information comes too late for the playground. I'm supposedly fluent in Spanish. However, it did give me a laugh in finally understanding what that girl was calling me in Spanish. I was odd when I smiled and invited her to sit with me at lunch. It's always good to fill in your educational gaps, no matter how late.
• Not taking notes when you are researching a subject is a recipe for failure. Moreover, useless notes are just that -- useless. Reviewing note taking techniques seemed redundant, but even old ladies can learn how to be more efficient.
• Never take an eleven year old American girl to Italy where there are a lot of naked statues, unless you plan on explaining basic male anatomy early.
• Never pre-judge the latest hot book or movie, people younger and less educated than you, are raving about. Times change, and there's a lot to be learned about staying current. Stephenie Meyers is probably laughing all the way to the bank.
• The mystery is solved! My grandmother always called vanilla the "poor woman's hootch." I now know why thanks to Pam Roberson.

As someone who leans on the nerdy side, always observing trends and numbers, with a market research analyst's background, some of the hubbing lessons, I've learned in 2008 are:

• To have a fan, you must first be a loyal fan of others. It's sort of like, to have a friend, you must first be a friend. This is just my rule, but it seems to work for me in building a fan base. If I am your fan, I look at every hub you publish. If the topic is interesting (remember that is subjective to my interests and nothing personal), I will always read it and give it a thumbs up. If it is extraordinary, or I have something relevant to say, I will comment.
• I see a direct relationship between the time of day a hub is published, and it's success in attracting traffic and comments.
• I see a direct relationship between the day of the week a hub is published, and it's success in attracting traffic and comments.
• I believe hubs that are published on holidays do not fare as well initially in terms of traffic and comments.
• Regardless of trends, a good hub or great one, will eventually get discovered if it's an evergreen topic, or an unusual topic.
• Learning how and why I needed to take compliments gracefully was a skill that I somehow lacked until this, my fifty-ninth year (I’m not sure why). I’ve figured out that a compliment is a gift. It matters not, that you concur with the compliment giver. It’s not about you, it’s about them, and how they cared enough to think of you, and share their thoughts in an encouraging way. That’s why each and every hub page comment, gets a “thank you" from me.”
• While many will say that a hub should be short, my marketing research does not match that. The Internet is filled with far too much "teaser blogging." Yes, everyone is busy. Yes, everyone has shortened attention spans. However, when you want to know about something, you don't want to have to look fifty places to get some basic information. First page Hub rankings on Google seem to match this theory of mine.
• Hubs are like making homemade wine or bread -- they need time to rise (or mature), preferably before you put them on the table for everyone to devour.
• Always write a hub that captivates immediate attention in the first paragraph. If you can't do that in your opening, you should probably just save yourself some carpel tunnel.
• Pay strict attention to how you title your hub, it is important to your Google ranking and can come back to haunt you if you choose unwisely.
• Research your online pen name before you sign up under it, if you are using one. You don't want one that is also the same name, as some Asian porn star.
• Persistence pays, as with anything there is a learning curve.
• Give people substance each time, and more than they expect every time.
• Your hubscore reflects your participation in the community of hubbers.
• There is intelligent life out there, just read many of the better hubbers.

Robert Fulghum once wrote a book about, "All I really need to know, I learned in kindergarten." I now have discovered in 2008, that "all I didn't know that I need to learn, is found on the Internet, and sometimes largely thanks to hubpages." Thanks to all of you for making 2008 an enriching year and an entertaining year!