“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”

William Shakespeare

Lately, everyone seems to be knowing what I should be doing in my life. It looks like there are a lot many experts on my life out there. I’ve been getting a lot of advice from motherhood to exercising to expenditure. It’s a good feeling to be having so many well-wishers around me, but sometimes it’s irksome. I’ve always had very less patience for people who are ready to offer advice at the drop of their hats. There is a type of people who are expert in giving advice no matter what. They can offer you advice on everything under the sun from science to religion. In their little brains, they are great connoisseurs of art, etymologists, linguists, perfumers scientists and many more. Mister Know -All or Ms. Know-All has lead a very rich life brimming with renaissance arts and inventions. A life modeled on the theosophic and pragmatic philosophies of Aristotle and Plato while your average life revolves around earning bread and butter. How ordinary?

Unsolicited Advisers

We all have at least one Monseuir Know -All either in our families or at our work, who will not stop offering advice. His little brain seems to have decoded the secrets of every possible mystery hidden in the universe. If not on any other discipline he/she is surely an expert on your life. The mini Darwins as I like to call them, have expounded an evolutionist theory on your life from the cradle to the grave and everything that lies in between. While they are permitted to offer their pearls of wisdom through a divine right, you must behold your tongue since you are ignorant of your misdeeds. The sheer horror of their site makes you want to change the course of your discourse, alter the path to your cubicles and if necessary question the maker of your destiny. Question your lord, why did you drop this specimen of intelligence and beauty in my life? Is it to make me feel pathetic and miserable?

Psychology Behind Unsolicited Advisers

People who offer too many devices are failures in their respective fields. The advice is a way to exert their need for superiority in your life. I once had someone advise me on getting up early for a jog when I asked innocently is he getting up early, the answer was no. It was an expected answer, after all, someone who gets up at four to exercise, knows how difficult it is. They seem to be specialists in relationships too and know exactly how you can rectify relationship mistakes. But have a glance at their relationships, and you will realize their affairs are a complete train-wreck. The need to fulfill the void in their lives make them offer advice. It’s an act of masquerading where they try to conceal their follies and mistakes. The inbuilt insecurity and the perfect envy drives them to pretend that know everything about you and your not so picture-perfect lives.

It’s never wise to take an offense when you have someone giving you advice on a regular basis. At least this is what I’ve realized during my many encounters with such individuals. It’s perhaps more useful to understand the cause beneath their know-all façade. As you will get to know them, you will discover an injured soul or a disappointed life. Next time when you have a chance rendezvous with a habitual advice giver, don’t alter your path simply lend your ear and remember,

“Advisors are generally brilliant theoreticians but wretched practitioners.”

Francoise Giroud