A new trend has just popped up on Twitter and it’s popping so fast I’m having trouble tracing its path. I believe it originated with Maria Shriver. At first I thought it was corny but, once I dug down, I struck treasure.
Tweeters all over are each sharing three words by which they live. It’s called “threewordstoliveby” and is intended to get people thinking about how they would capture their personal philosophies in just three words.
I took a scroll through about a hundred of them and tried to decide what mine would be.
To be sure, there were plenty of clichés: Live, laugh, love. Eat, pray love. Family, friends, faith. Those are nice, but they’ve been done. After all, the point is for them to be uniquely individual.
Some were raunchy. Some were extremely raunchy. Some were hedonistic: Scotch rocks now. Bacon or die. Some were narcissistic.
Some folks couldn’t do it in three words: Lock the back door. Be concise.
First I thought mine would be Laugh yourself silly. Not very original, but it suits me.
Unable to come up with a meaningful and unique string, I found several that I wish I had:
- Peace, love, panic
- Failure isn’t permanent
- I ignore ignorance
- Know your role
- Think then talk
- Duck fat hashbrowns
Yes, the triquetrous credos are supposed to reflect our individuality. If that’s the case, I just found myself half a dozen new Doppelgängers.
By what three words do you live?
Word Nymph 