Bursting Myths

“Should you start bursting popular myths or should you let the people believe that which maybe they're just hearsay?” (Anonymous, https://quotelers.com/topics/48360-myth-busting).  How many myths have we taken as truth because our parents, teachers, preachers, the culture have repeated them over the decades, centuries?  This week, we’ll explore bursting a few of these myths because being informed and honest about what is and isn’t truth makes us better thinking people.

Here’s a sampling of common myths that need to be burst:

*The pursuit of happiness is the goal in life.  According to Atalanta Beaumont, psychotherapist who focuses on Transactional Analysis, “Pursuit of happiness is illusory. If we keep seeking ‘happiness’ as though it were a thing instead of an experience we risk missing out on the experiences and everyday pleasures which constitute happiness. Many psychologists believe that we have what is called a ‘set point’ for happiness” (https://www.psychologytoday.com/).  Whenever we actively pursue happiness, the outcome may be feeling miserable rather than happy.  Often what we pursue will evade us.

*You should not wear white before Memorial Day and after Labor Day.  Ridiculous!  Wear what you want when you want.  Anytime I hear “should,” I immediately want to do the opposite!  You too? The origins of this ‘rule’ began in the late 19th century as a way for the upper class to distinguish themselves from the working class.  That’s another good reason to toss out this elitist ‘rule’.

*Getting a college education guarantees you getting higher paying jobs. STOP telling people this!  This was terrible advice given to younger generations that followed Gen X!  It caused a couple of generations of people to go into massive educational debt and hold unrealistic expectations.  It’s not the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s! According to Sarah Hernholm for Forbes, “For decades, the path was straightforward: graduate from high school, attend college, secure a job, and enjoy financial stability. Parents saved, students borrowed, and the diploma became shorthand for employability. But in 2025, that script [broke] down. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Labor Market for Recent College Graduates data, the unemployment rate among new graduates stands at 5.3%—nearly double the 2.7% rate for all degree holders as of August 2025. Fortune adds another sobering detail: young men with diplomas are now unemployed at the same levels as those without them. In fact, 9.1% of men ages 20 to 24 are currently out of work, compared to just 7.2% of women. For a generation raised to believe higher education was a guaranteed safety net, that’s a jarring reversal.

It leads to the bigger, uncomfortable question: if the diploma no longer delivers dependable opportunities, what kind of return are students actually getting on their six-figure investment? A degree once served as a shorthand signal. It told employers you could finish something hard, follow rules, and fit into the system. But more companies are questioning whether that signal still matters. Google began dropping degree requirements for a wide range of jobs in 2024, shifting focus to proof of skills and real-world projects. Apple, IBM, Netflix, and Accenture followed, with IBM branding these pathways ‘new collar jobs’—positions where what you can do matters more than what’s on your transcript. The financial math of higher education looks very different from what it did even 20 years ago:

• College costs are up 169% since 1995.

• Student debt has reached $1.7 trillion nationwide, with the average graduate owing $37,338.

• Entry-level salaries in many industries remain flat.

And families and students aren’t just paying for tuition—they’re buying into an environment. When that environment potentially discourages risk-taking, open dialogue, or resilience, the intangible ROI of college erodes. Parents are left questioning why they’re funding four years of intellectual narrowing instead of intellectual growth”(https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhernholm/2025/09/16/is-college-worth-it-in-2025-costs-culture-and-career-gaps/).  Better to encourage people to explore:

•  trades,

• “…tech bootcamps like Bloom Institute of Technology (formerly Lambda School) pioneered income-share agreements. Students pay nothing up front and only contribute once they land jobs over $50,000. Placement rates hover near 86% within six months,

• White-collar apprenticeships launched by Accenture, Aon, and JPMorgan Chase provide paid training in consulting, insurance, and finance, with direct pipelines to employment.

• Entrepreneurship remains a viable path. From creators building businesses on digital platforms to startups launched by teens, many are bypassing traditional credentials altogether. These options are often less expensive, faster, and more closely tied to job outcomes than a four-year degree” (https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhernholm/2025/09/16/is-college-worth-it-in-2025-costs-culture-and-career-gaps/).

*Home ownership is your greatest investment.  Nope!  Your home is your home.  According to wealth manger, Jamie Hopkins, “The risk of single homeownership has an annual standard deviation of roughly 12%, which is close to the standard deviation of a traditional investment portfolio of 60 percent stocks and 40 percent bonds. This means that a home is not significantly safer than most investment portfolios, and it provides a substantially lower investment return. Historically, home equity mostly just keeps pace with inflation and provides no real return. According to Professor Robert Shiller, one of the leading experts on housing prices in the United States, the real inflation-corrected prices of homes showed almost no change from 1890 to 1990, and showed losses in the 2000s. Individual housing tends to be a risky investment with poor returns, but it does appreciate over time, leaving many people to believe it was a good investment. So then, armed with the knowledge that the home is not a great investment, the next question to answer is whether you should buy a home or rent. A number of studies show that many people would increase their wealth faster if they rented and invested the money into higher return investments that they would otherwise put as a down payment on a home or pay for a mortgage. Another factor to consider is the length of time you expect to be in the home. There is a significant amount of research showing that especially if you plan on being in the home for less than 5 years, you are better off renting and investing the money you don’t spend on housing” (https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiehopkins/2018/07/28/housing-is-not-a-good-investment-its-a-service/#).

Think about if you want to move to another state or out of town and your house is upside down - you owe more on your mortgage than your house is worth; you have negative equity.  If you rented, moving wouldn’t be as costly a problem.

*God helps those who help themselves.  Nope! “‘God helps those who help themselves’ is probably the most often quoted phrase that is not found in the Bible. This saying is usually attributed to Ben Franklin, quoted in Poor Richard’s Almanac in 1757. In actuality, it originated from Algernon Sydney in 1698 in an article titled Discourses Concerning Government. Whatever the original source of this saying, the Bible teaches the opposite. God helps the helpless!” (https://www.gotquestions.org/God-help-themselves.html).  It’s not a biblical “truth.”  “The saying ‘God helps those who help themselves’ is a dangerous misconception. It promotes self-reliance and individualism, contrary to the Bible’s teachings on interdependence, community, and reliance on God” (https://annistown.com/debunking-god-helps-those/). I’m not a religious follower and do I believe “self-reliance and individualism” are superb qualities; still, even religious folks could stop saying this phrase since it’s not in keeping with their beliefs about the nature of God.

*Blood is thicker than water.  Candace Osmond, grammarian, clarifies, “The commonly used phrase ‘blood is thicker than water’ was first used in the 12th century by German philosophers to mean that family is more important than anything. But its true meaning has changed over the centuries since, and I’ll break down details about how and when the switch happened. The well-known idiom blood is thicker than water is used to say that someone’s family and blood ties are more crucial in their life than any other person, relationship, or need. For instance, it could mean that your bond with your friends is not as valuable as your bond with your family.‘Blood is thicker than water’ is an idiomatic expression because we rarely use the actual meaning in a literal sense. Instead, we use its figurative meaning to denote the importance of family over everything. Loyalty to family is taught to children in both Eastern and Western cultures. In the USA, children are still prepared to value their parents even if creativity and individualism are prioritized over conformity. Parents also understand the importance of respecting their children. The word blood references familial relations and kinships. We call this figure of speech a metonymy because the word is associated with an item or concept to refer to the thing itself” (https://grammarist.com/proverb/blood-is-thicker-than-water/). Again, this is ridiculous because, while some families are 'thick as thieves' - oops, there’s another common phrase that seems to emphasize the secretive nature of some families, many consider ‘family of choice’ in our close friends to be more devoted to us, and we to them, than our birth or adoptive families.  Some family members may not deserve our loyalty. And, some friends do.

*Chewing gum stays in your stomach for five to seven years. False. Most chewing gum is not digestible, meaning that it will travel through your system in a matter of two to four days” (https://www.uchealth.org/today/10-myths-you-may-have-heard-from-your-parents/).

* Wait an hour after eating before you go swimming to prevent cramping. False. A normal-sized meal consumed before swimming will not cause cramping. It is possible to feel tired and fatigued after overeating, so maybe avoid swimming “ (https://www.uchealth.org/today/10-myths-you-may-have-heard-from-your-parents/).

* We only use 10% of our brain. False. This is a motivational speaker’s ploy (that can be traced back to the early 1900s) to encourage people to live up to their full potential. Studies of brain activity have provided no evidence that only 10% of the brain is used. ”…the idea that we use 10 percent of our brain is 100 percent a myth. In fact, scientists believe that we use our entire brain every day. Mila Halgren is a graduate student in the lab of Mark Harnett, an associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences and an investigator at the McGovern Institute. The Harnett Lab studies the computational power of neurons, that is, how neural networks rapidly process massive amounts of information. ‘All of our brain is constantly in use and consumes a tremendous amount of energy,’ Halgren says. ‘Despite making up only two percent of our body weight, it devours 20 percent of our calories.’ This doesn’t appear to change significantly with different tasks, from typing on a computer to doing yoga. ‘Even while we sleep, our entire brain remains intensely active’ (qtd. in https://mcgovern.mit.edu/2024/01/26/do-we-use-only-10-percent-of-our-brain/).

* Sitting too close to the TV will make you go blind. False. Televisions and other devices emit such low radiation levels that they have little effect on the body. However, staring at the same thing for a long period of time can cause the eye muscles to fatigue, thereby affecting vision. But there has been no proof this causes long-term damage (https://www.webmd.com/eye-health/fact-fiction-myths-about-eyes).

* Shaved hair grows back thicker and darker. False. Although your mom may have told you this as a young girl so you wouldn’t be so eager to start shaving your legs, it’s not true. Because the hair is newer, it may have not yet been bleached by the sun, and so it appears darker and thicker. “Though this is a myth, the ‘stubble stage’ struggle is real, but moisturizing can help.  As it turns out, this is a myth: Shaving won’t make your hair regrow any thicker or faster. But there’s some logic behind thinking it does. ‘When hairs are cut short, they can feel stubbly or stiff because their shorter lengths have increased resistance to bending forces,’ explains dermatology resident Taylor Bullock, MD. ‘They can also feel sharp and prickly due to uneven and sharp edges from being recently cut’” (qtd. in https://health.clevelandclinic.org/does-shaving-make-hair-thicker).

*If you go outside with wet hair on a cold day, you’ll catch a cold. False. Colds are caused by viruses, which you can’t get just from being outside in the cold. You may feel sick if you’re outside all day in the cold or rain — runny nose, chills, fatigue — but it’s not because of a virus. It’s because you can experience the same symptoms when you are chilled as when you are sick. “[It] makes sense: Your hair is wet, which can make you cold. Couple that with being outside in chilly temperatures and it stands to reason you will feel colder. But does feeling cold mean you’re more susceptible to viruses and bacteria? Scientists in England found that being chilled does not increase the possibility of catching a cold. If the cold virus is already in your body, however, being chilled can cause the onset of symptoms, the researchers found” (https://www.uhhospitals.org/blog/articles/2021/11/can-you-catch-a-cold-by-going-outside-with-wet-hair).

* You lose most of your heat through your head. False. If you look at the surface area, the head is no bigger than the rest of your body. It’s maybe about 10-15% of the total surface area, and that’s the percentage of body heat lost through the head. “This myth likely stems from a US Army Field Manual that stated 40–45 per cent of heat loss occurs through the head. Scientists explained that if this were true, you would be just as cold wearing a hat and no trousers as you would wearing trousers and no hat. Not likely! Your face, head and chest are just more sensitive to temperature changes. This explains why covering them feels like it prevents heat loss more than other areas of your body. In reality, covering any part of the body has the same effect” (https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/the-great-cold-head-myth-where-you-really-lose-your-body-heat-from).

* Cracking your knuckles causes arthritis. False. A 30-year study showed this is not the case. However, knuckle cracking can lessen one’s grip strength because of repeated overstretching of the tendons. Mayo Clinic orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Sanj Kakar shares, “‘There's a term called habitual knuckle crackers. They crack, on average, more than five times a day.’ Dr. Kakar explains that tribonucleation is the process of creating bubbles within the synovial fluid in our finger joints. The sound we call cracking is actually those bubbles bursting. ‘You’re breaking those bubbles up – just like bubble wrap,’ Dr. Kakar explains. ‘You’re pressing them, and then the bubbles are bursting.’ Studies show knuckle crackers have the same function, grip strength and range of motion as those who don’t crack their knuckles, although cartilage can become thicker in people who burst their own bubbles” (qtd. in https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-minute-a-hand-surgeons-advice-about-knuckle-cracking/).

*Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. False, sort of. Breakfast is actually one of the three most important meals of the day. Our bodies need good nutrition throughout the day, but breakfast is usually the one most often skipped, [even if] it shouldn’t be” (https://www.uchealth.org/today/10-myths-you-may-have-heard-from-your-parents/).

*Local honey is a a cure for allergies.  “No. The myth is that local pollen in honey can desensitise the allergic reaction, but there’s no evidence to support it. A 2002 study at the University of Connecticut compared locally-produced, unfiltered honey, with nationally-produced, filtered honey and honey-flavoured corn syrup. In double-blind trials, there was no difference between the three in reducing hay fever symptoms. The pollen in honey is nearly all the heavy, flower pollen that doesn’t cause hay fever. The pollen that sets your nose running is much lighter and comes from grasses and trees that bees don’t visit” (https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/).

*The USA is the greatest nation on earth.  While this seems almost blasphemous to burst this myth, it’s much better to look at reality than fiction so that people of the USA can work together to repair their tarnished image and provide better for the people living there.  Douglas McIntyre, editor/researcher/writer, shares the truth: “There is a moment in the hit TV series The Newsroom when national TV anchor Will McAvoy, played by Jeff Daniels, appears as part of a panel about America held in a college auditorium. Each panelist is asked, ‘Why is America the greatest country in the world?’ The two other panelists give trite answers. After being pushed hard by the moderator, McAvoy says America is not the greatest country in the world anymore. He then gives a litany of factual reasons why. [to see this & watch to the end, please, because there is a message to encourage us to work toward a better USA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTjMqda19wk&t=3s] America lags behind other nations in the world in a large number of areas, from infant mortality and crime rates to median income and gross domestic product per capita. Politicians, doctors, public policymakers, economists and academics have tried to narrow these gaps for years. Largely, they have been unsuccessful. “24/7 Wall St. looked at a very wide range of metrics across which countries can be ranked. Some of these include over 150 nations, which is much of the world’s 195 countries. Other comparisons involved fewer than 40 nations, in most cases those in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).What has emerged is largely a picture of mediocrity. America is nowhere close to being the best-educated nation in the world. It is a major polluter and has high crime rates, and it has a high percentage of people who live in poverty. It also has bad health outcomes, due in part to bad health habits, which created conditions like obesity. Here are 20 reasons America is no longer the greatest country in the world. [from 2021, so some of these may have declined more]

•  In terms of infant mortality per 100,000 live births, the United States ranks 34th out of 44 countries.

• In median household income, America ranks fourth out of 36 countries.

• The murder rate per 100,000 people puts America at 89th out of 230 countries.

• America is the second worst of 20 countries when it comes to share of CO2 emissions.

• America’s health care costs are the highest out of the top 48 countries.

• Life expectancy in the United States ranks 46th out of 193.

• In student math performance, America comes in at number 39 out of 71 countries.

• As for doctorates per capita, its rank is fourth of top 35 countries.

• The country does rank second out of 154 countries in international patent applications.

• And in number of people in the military, it ranks third out of 149 countries.

• Ninth of 26 countries is the rank in suicide rates per 100,000.

• But the percentage of people living in poverty puts America at number 127 out of 172.

• America’s crime rate is 56th out of 137 countries.

• In reading, the United States ranks 24th out of 71 countries.

• In terms of happiness, America’s rank is 24th out of 95.

• In export sales, America is second out of 231 countries.

• The country ranks 12th out of 180 in terms of internet speed.

• America is the second-largest car market out of 10.

• In obesity, the U.S. rank is 35th out of 44 countries.

• And it ranks 71st out of 134 in terms of the safest countries” (https://247wallst.com/economy/2021/11/04/20-reasons-america-is-no-longer-the-greatest-country-in-the-world/).

This isn’t meant to be a downer & this situation is not because certain political parties were running the show; I highlighted this myth to help us wake up and not perpetuate the myth.  When we look at this situation and see the work that needs to be done, will we do it?  Will we support policies that benefit all of us, not just the wealthy/privileged?  Will we vote for those who honor all of us?  [Hint: it isn’t just because a political party says they want to ‘make America great again’; it’s showing the policies that help all people, that care about all people, that honor and respect all people.]

*Because the previous myth was so heavy, I’m going to end with an interesting one that’s lighter. Mice love cheese. “Contrary to popular belief, mice do not necessarily have an inherent preference for cheese. While mice are known to enjoy a wide variety of foods, including nuts, fruits, grains, and seeds, their dietary preferences may vary depending on their tastes, genetics, and environment. Research has shown that mice prefer sweeter foods over cheese “ (https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/42536/20230222/debunking-the-myth-do-mice-really-love-cheese.htm ).

  Do any of the myths bursted surprise you? Please share your stories, thoughts, insights, and suggestions by either commenting below this post if you are reading this on social media, or, if you are reading this through your email subscription, please share, by emailing me, at reimaginelife22@gmail.com.

Thank you for reading and participating in this blog essay; I invite you to subscribe to my blog at www.reimaginelifecoach.com.