So often when we try to give advice we actually wind up spitting out truisms.  More often than not though, these truisms fall on deaf ears because, at some level we all know that they aren’t actually true.

1.There’s No “I” in Team
OK, technically, this is true, there is no letter “I” in the word team. But, that’s not what people mean when they say this. They mean that there’s no place for individuality or individual striving on a team. To that I say, bullshit. The best teams I know, from groups at work to the X-Men all thrive because they’re made up of individuals who have their own goals, talents and wants and apply those goals and talents to the good of the team. The best team leaders, like Professor X are great leaders because they recognize an individual talent and nurture it. I will admit that having never played organized sports, it’s possible that I’m wrong. Maybe in order to do well at basketball or football you can’t be an individual. But, Michael Jordan always seemed like an individual to me.

2. What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger
Um, actually there are a lot of things that don’t kill you and make you a lot weaker. Pneumonia springs to mind, but a broken heart, job loss, cancer, and depression also have the potential to leave you weaker. What’s more, who really wants to sit around seeing if you’re going to come out of your current crisis dead or stronger?

3. It’s Always Darkest before the Dawn
Maybe I don’t get up early enough, but it always seems to me that it’s actually darkest in the middle of the night when your husband is snoring, and you can’t sleep and you have to pee but there’s no night light and you’re scared that you’ll trip over something and wake the kids up. Also, just because it seems really dark, how do you know that’s as dark as it CAN get? Maybe it’s only midnight dark and you have to go through a whole night’s worth of darkness before you get to something light and good.

4. Every Rose Has its Thorn
Yes, but if you have enough money you can pay someone to remove the thorns for you.