9 tips to get you safely through Christmas

As we prepare for the festive season, we navigate our to-do list and our diaries with anticipation while bracing ourselves for the extravagance – the expensive presents, the glamour, the twinkling lights, the sparkles, the excess, - and the stark contrast between happiness and despair that will be heightened in the weeks ahead.

The best thing I’ve heard all week is a speech delivered in 2013 by Australian comedian, actor, writer, musician and director, Tim Minchin to his alma mater, the University of Western Australia. The university awarded him an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters and invited him to address the graduating class.

Wacky-haired Minchin is an inspiration. He’s unabashedly enthusiastic about art and science, and a strong believer in exercise, travel, kindness, and thank-you notes.

In his commencement speech, he introduced himself by saying the only thing that positioned him to give the address was an “inflated sense of self-importance” born of addressing large crowds; before he proceeded to share a 9-point guide to life that stresses the importance of gratitude, kindness, intellectual rigour and respect. Wisdom that makes you laugh and echoes inside your head minutes, hours, days later. The first thing in your head when you wake.

Here’s a brief summary of Minchin’s 9 rules to live by

You don’t have to have a dream

If you have a dream in your heart, go for it, he says. If it’s a big enough one, it will take you all your life to get there. By the time you get there, and you are staring into the abyss of the meaninglessness of your achievement, you’ll be almost dead.

Rather, Minchin advocates “passionate dedication to the pursuit of short-term goals”. Be micro-ambitious, put your head down and work with pride. The next worthy pursuit will probably appear in your periphery, as you are doing it.

Don’t chase happiness

Rather than chasing happiness for yourself, “keep busy and aim to make someone else happy and “you might get some as a side effect.” We didn’t evolve to be constantly content.

It’s all down to luck

Remember you are incalculably lucky to be here and most of us will achieve a level of wealth that “most humans throughout history could not have dreamed of”. I will try to remember that when I’m stuck in traffic in December, looking for a parking spot or listening to 12 days of Christmas for the twelfth time.

Exercise

“You think therefore you are, but also you jog, therefore you sleep, therefore you’re not overwhelmed by existential angst,” says Minchin. “This long, luxurious life ahead of you is going to make you depressed.”

This is why I religiously walk to and from work and swim regularly - getting rid of existential angst at the start and end of every day.

Be hard on yourself

Identify your own biases, prejudices and privileges and don’t exempt your beliefs and opinions from intellectual rigour. Minchin says your opinions “should be constantly and thoroughly examined,” and that much of societies’ arguments are kept alive by a failure to acknowledge nuance. “Be hard on your beliefs. Take them out on to the veranda and hit them with a cricket bat,” – a very Australian phrase with a global resonance.

Be a teacher

Minchin suggests that teachers are the most important, admirable people in the world. Be an amazing teacher. Even if you’re not a teacher – share your ideas, “rejoice in what you learn and spray it”.

Define yourself by what you love

So many people define themselves by what they don’t love – pop song lyrics on the radio, Coldplay, truffle oil, feminists. “Be demonstrative and generous in your praise of those you admire – send thank you cards and give standing ovations,” says Minchin.

When is the last time you received a card with a personal note of appreciation? Do you remember how that made you feel and how long it stayed on your mantlepiece? Christmas cards are just another way of saying thanks.

Respect people with less power than you

I love this. Minchin states that in the past he has made important decisions about people he works with, agents and producers by how they treat the wait staff in the room he is having a meeting in.

“I don’t care if you’re the most powerful kangaroo in the room, I will judge you on how you treat the least powerful,” he says.

My daughters, who spent their college years waitressing and in retail, used to always urge me to be nicer to waiters and retail staff – reminding me to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and smile when asking for help. In our frenzy to get service, these little gestures are often lost.

Finally, don’t rush

This is the best advice we could finish on in the run as the festive season looms large.

Minchin suggests we don’t need to know what we’re going to do with the rest of our life and not to panic – we will soon be dead.

“Life will sometimes seem long and tough, and God, it’s tiring. And you will sometimes be happy and sometimes sad. And then you will be old and then you’ll be dead.

“There is only one sensible thing to do with this empty existence, and that is fill it... with learning, taking pride in what you are doing, having compassion, sharing ideas, running, being enthusiastic,” advises Minchin.

“It’s an incredibly exciting thing, this one meaningless life of yours.”

Good luck with the run-up to Christmas and enjoy every minute.

Tim Minchin’s speech can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoEezZD71sc