The Best Advice My Mom Ever Gave Me

By Jamie Friedlander  

I’m currently pregnant with my first child. I’m an anxious person and I’ve been worried about countless things: Will our baby be healthy? Do we have everything we need for the nursery? Is the crib we’re looking to buy safe? Will I be a good mom? That last worry is the one that has been dominating my mind as of late. Parenting is a tricky, complex task, and no parent is perfect. But I want to prime myself to be the best possible mom I can be. So I did some research.

In honor of Mother’s Day, I asked different people to share the best piece of advice they ever received from their mom or the motherly figure in their life.

 ** “One of my favorite pieces of advice that my mom ever gave me is: Listen to the person’s advice who has nothing to lose or gain from your decision.”—Charlene Bazarian; attorney; Reading, Massachusetts

** “Always prepare early. Give yourself enough time so you have peace of mind and don’t have to rush.”  —Heather Watkins; disability rights advocate; Boston

** “The best advice my mom ever gave me is to never look back because life only moves forward. As a person with anxiety disorders, I often get stuck in the past. Whenever I get stuck in a rut, I think of what my mom always told me, and I’m able to keep moving forward and not dwell on the past.”  —Tsvetty Kolarova; social work student; Toronto

** “The one thing my mom drilled into me was to have good posture. She constantly told me to sit up straight at the dining table and not slouch while standing. As a teen, it was very annoying. But since then, I have thanked my mother countless times for this lesson.

 “It seems like such a small thing, but it isn’t. I’ve read that good posture makes you more confident and more attractive, and it gives non-verbal clues to others that you are self-assured and powerful.”  —Kathleen Owens; financial advisor; Hilton Head, South Carolina

** “With this being her first Mother’s Day as a new mom, I have to give credit to my beautiful wife, Lauren, for her constant reassurance that, in our journey of parenthood, it’s OK that we don’t have all the answers and mistakes are inevitable.

“As she’ll say, ‘We don’t even know what we don’t know.’ Being reminded of that regularly brings me so much relief, because I tend to put pressure on myself to do everything perfectly when it comes to our 3-month-old little girl.

“She keeps me balanced and remembering that this is a marathon, not a sprint, and the most important thing is to be loving and patient, not only with our daughter, but with ourselves.”  —Josh Ellis; SUCCESS editor in chief; Dallas

** “The best piece of advice my mom ever gave me was that there is no reason to be jealous of anyone. She said, ‘You have two hands and a brain. If you want something someone else has, go out and get it on your own.’ That is how I live my life.”—Ilena Di Toro; small business owner; Philadelphia

** “When I was a kid, we had a swimming pool in our backyard. One day, I got hurt doing a trick in the water. It was only a bruise, but I decided I was done for the day. My mom stopped me. She told me to do it again. ‘I’m too scared,’ I told her. ‘I’ll do it tomorrow.’

“‘No,’ my mom said, ‘you need to do it today because you’re scared. If you wait until tomorrow or some other day, the feeling of being scared will get bigger. And once it gets bigger, it will get harder for you to do it again.’

“I’ll never forget that advice. The more we hesitate over something, the bigger it becomes. But that’s exactly why you should do it again. Do it right away, and don’t give your brain the opportunity to turn a stumble into a setback.”—Jandra Sutton; author; Nashville, Tennessee

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