People reveal the most life-changing piece of advice they’ve ever received

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Reddit users are filled with words of wisdom.
AP/Andre Penner

Life is filled with little moments that can make us rethink everything we thought we knew.

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If you're looking for some words of wisdom, look no further than a year-old Reddit thread, recently rediscovered by Upvoted, that asked the question: What is something someone said that forever changed your way of thinking?

With over 19,000 comments, the post is one of the most popular on the website. 

"I want to say thank you for this thread," one user wrote. "Definitely saving it and coming back to it anytime I feel down."

Keep reading to see the words that changed these Reddit users' lives.

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"Be afraid! And then do it anyway!"

16th Fina World High Diving Championship
Matthias Hangst/Getty Images

"I was 13 years old, trying to teach my 6-year-old sister how to dive into a swimming pool from the side of the pool. It was taking quite a while as my sister was really nervous about it. We were at a big, public pool, and nearby there was a woman, about 75 years old, slowly swimming laps. Occasionally she would stop and watch us. Finally she swam over to us just when I was really putting the pressure on, trying to get my sister to try the dive, and my sister was shouting, 'But I'm afraid!! I'm so afraid!!' The old woman looked at my sister, raised her fist defiantly in the air and said, 'So be afraid! And then do it anyway!'

"That was 35 years ago and I have never forgotten it. It was a revelation — it's not about being unafraid. It's about being afraid and doing it anyway." - loubird12500

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"Everybody is looking for the right person, and nobody is trying to be the right person."

love couple kissing sex rain nyc
t.germeau / Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

"When I was young and having what I thought was a serious relationship talk with my first real SO, I told her that I just wanted to find the right person.

"Without missing a beat she said, 'Everybody is looking for the right person, and nobody is trying to be the right person.'

"That stopped me in my tracks." - faelsoss

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You're never too old to start something new.

old man hands
Bethany Clarke/Getty Images

"When I was 38, I contemplated beginning a two-year Associates Degree in Radiography. I was talking to a friend and had almost talked myself out of doing it. I said 'I'm too old to start that. I'll be 40 when I get my degree.'

"My friend said 'If you don't do it, you'll still be 40, but without the degree.' I'm nearly 60 now, and that degree has been the difference between making a decent living, and struggling to get by." - luckyhenry

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"You have your whole life to freak out about [something]."

crying baby father and son
Jen SFO-BCN/Flickr

"My mom was dying. A friend told me, 'You have your whole life to freak out about this — don't do it in front of her.'

"It really helped me to understand that my feelings are not always what's important. It is possible to delay a freakout, and that skill has served me innumerable times." - DiffidentDissident

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"It's only embarrassing if you're embarrassed."

embarrassed covering face
jonseidman1988/Flickr

"'It's only embarrassing if you're embarrassed.' Changed my life forever." - eyecebrakr

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"I'm not confined to my wheelchair — I am liberated by it."

A person in a wheelchair makes their way along an empty road
REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke

"I met a person who was in a wheelchair. He related a story about how a person once asked if it was difficult to be confined to a wheelchair. He responded, 'I'm not confined to my wheelchair — I am liberated by it. If it wasn't for my wheelchair, I would be bed-bound and never able to leave my room or house.'

"Amazing perspective." - RedheadBanshee

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Don't be mean to your dog.

girl kissing dog
Deepa Shrestha/Reuters

"Paraphrasing what another Redditor told someone, but it was basically, 'Don't be a d*** to your dog. He's a few years of your life, but you are all of his.'" - kwyjiboe

"We judge others by their actions and ourselves on our intentions."

Helping Hand
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"We judge others by their actions and ourselves on our intentions. Really made me think about people and I try telling myself that when the idiot in front of me doesn't indicate when merging." - Rex--Banner

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"If you think you know something, find someone who disagrees and listen to them."

Man listening
University of Exeter/Flickr

"Not sure who said this to me, but I heard this in my late teens and it completely changed the way I think forever: 'If you think you know something, find someone who disagrees and listen to them.'

"It has taken years for that to fully sink in, but it's a never-ending process. The last part, the part about actually listening, is the tricky part, and it took me many years to get it right.

"But it's the best advice I've ever heard, and it changed my life more than any other single piece of advice. I also think it's the advice that most people on reddit need in their lives." - apopheniac1989

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The human body is amazing.

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"A couple years ago, I read on [the subreddit] /r/explainlikeimfive a comment that changed the way I thought about the human body. There was a comment about how you would have to run the length of an entire football field to work off the calories in one M&M.

"Someone then responded with a comment along the lines of 'You're looking at it the wrong way. The human body is such an efficient machine that it only takes one M&Ms worth of power to fuel it running across a football field.'" - Kugruk

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"Next year, you'll wish you had started today."

writing
Flickr/Julie Jordan Scott

"Next year, you'll wish you had started today." - trytryagainn

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"Do it to do it, not to have done it."

kid mowing lawn
Flickr/woodleywonderworks

"[A teacher of mine told me,] 'Do it to do it, not to have done it.'

"Made me really think about my motivations for doing things as I moved forward." - corneliusthedog

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Not everything is a catastrophe.

spilled milk
Michael Bentley/Flickr

"My psychologist gave me a print of a picture of Winnie the Pooh and Piglet in the forest. This is the quote that went with it:

'Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?'

'Supposing it didn't,' said Pooh, after careful thought.

After careful thought, Piglet was comforted.

"I think about it when I'm catastrophising and it is really helpful for calming down and thinking rationally about whatever situation I'm in." - hiddenstar13

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"You are not required to set yourself on fire to keep other people warm."

woman and papers stressed
Flickr/Giuseppe Milo

"'You are not required to set yourself on fire to keep other people warm.'

"[This] really hit home for me since I grew up trying to mediate my parents' issues and had multiple friends in and out of the ER for mental health crises during my teen years, among other things. As someone who spent the majority of her life feeling like she had to take care of others at all costs, it was kinda a shock to the system to hear that I was allowed to have my limits even with people who truly needed help." - merest

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It's all about perspective, so enjoy your life.

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Shutterstock

"I was sitting in a bus once, and we came to the railroad tracks. There were some cars sitting inbetween us and the next red light, so if a train came, we'd be stuck until it had passed. That was always a couple of annoying minutes.

"Then the light turned green, and the bus went across the train tracks without having to wait for a train. Pheew, crisis averted. Then, behind me, a mother said to her small child: 'That was too bad, we didn't get to see the train today.'

"That was the perfect way to frame that. Why not enjoy what you get?" - AF79

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