The best advice my mother ever gave me, God rest her soul, was "Don't pick at it. It'll come apart." I've been thinking about her alot lately, and the 4th anniversary of her passing just came and went.
One day many years ago, I came home from school, with a huge snag in my favorite sweater. I started pulling at it, like kids do. She noticed it, and asked me what happened. I told her I'd snagged it on the edge of my locker, and I was pretty bummed, it was the first sweater I'd ever bought with my own money. I'll never forget the way she looked at me that day...kind of tilted her head, and she said, "Honey, don't pick at it. It'll come apart." She thought for a few minutes, and then she said, "That goes for anything in life. Whatever it is, leave it alone or you'll just make it worse." She then sent me off to change, and fixed my sweater.
I never forgot what she said, and to this day, I can't tell you how many times I didn't listen. I'm not going to prattle on about all of the mistakes I've made, we all know hindsight is 20/20. But today, I'm really thinking about it, and kicking myself once again for picking at something that should have been left alone.
So yeah, that's the best advice my mother ever gave me, and I'm just passing it along...
Peace.