There are many things that school can teach you. Valuable things, don’t get me wrong. You spend most of your life in school and then what? Apply what they taught you to your real life, yes but sometimes they don’t always teach you the most important things. Those things being what you’re going to deal with for the rest of your life.
1. How to deal with someone breaking your heart.
School can never teach you how to deal with this. Whether you’re five, fifteen or in your mid-twenties. No one tells you when you’re young that there is going to be some girl/guy out there that will break your heart. And it’ll hurt. Deeply. Over and over. School will never teach you how to ignore them, realize that it’s their loss if they don’t want you anymore, and how to move on COMPLETELY.
2. How to deal with the loss of someone close to you.
Just like a heartbreak, this is the toughest situation you will ever have to go through. School doesn’t teach you how to grieve, how to accept, or how to live your life after they’re gone. Whether you lost that person through moving locations or death, it is never easy. They don’t tell you that even though your life has stopped with this person gone that the people around you keep living their life while you’re stuck in the same place.
3. That life goes on, you just have to learn how to live through it.
I know, it sounds cliche. But it is the truth, life goes on and keeps moving whether you like it or not. A lot of the times there are certain relationships with people that you want to mend and maintain for the rest of your life but it comes to a point to analyze that relationship. If that person is taking more than giving and vice versa, re-evaluate it. You shouldn’t be involved in a relationship, friendship or at a job that doesn’t grow you anymore. You’re better off without them. My grandma always says to me when I’m worried about certain relationships with people, “Leave them alone and they’ll come home.” Basically if they notice you’re not making an effort anymore then they are worth keeping around, if they don’t notice, kick them to the curb.
4. It is okay to make mistakes, you’re not going to be graded on ‘the rest of your life’.
Making mistakes is one of lifes greatest lessons. You’re probably thinking I’m crazy right now but making mistakes is the best life lesson you can give yourself. Mistakes teach you how to grow and what not to do the next time. So make mistakes, big ones, ones that you can’t even believe you came back from because you will be so much better off and don’t worry, you’re not going to be getting a big fat F attached to your mistakes. As far as I’m concerned, learning from them gives you an A plus.
5. Along with #4, learn from those mistakes. Don’t make them twice.
It might sound like I’m repeating myself but those mistakes you make. Don’t repeat them. Whether that is going back to a girl/boy who hurt you, deciding to drive under the influence when you already got in trouble for it, etc. Don’t make it again because after the first time, it’s a choice.
6. No one cares what clique, stereotype, or organization you were in school.
Don’t get me wrong, I was Greek in college. I loved every minute of it but in the end, you can’t go around thinking that you’re the sh*t because you were a ‘so and so’ in college. It doesn’t work that way. It looks good on a resume, it shows that you were involved and philanthropic. In college it was so important to date someone who was also Greek, not a GDI (Gosh Darn Independent). IN THE REAL WORLD, it won’t matter. Date who you want, who you like, who you connect with. Also, making friends…who cares if you meet a girl/guy at a bar or at a concert and they were in a organization that you hated on your campus. What if the organization was different than the one on your campus? Get to know people for who they are, not the groups they were put into.
7. Be respectful to your parents and listen to them.
Believe me, your parents know what they’re talking about. I know most of the time they seem like they’re just yelling at you about something or talking about something you can’t relate to. FALSE. They’re a lot older than you and have been around the block a time or two. Anything you’re dealing with in life, go to your parents. Take they’re advice and be glad you have them to turn towards because as far as I’m concerned, none of my teachers taught me the things my parents did.
8. The only person you need to answer to, is yourself.
This one is important.. throughout life you will meet a lot of people that will help change you, whether it be for the best or for the worst. But, the one thing you need to realize no matter what decisions you decide to make at the end of the day the only person you need to answer to is the face in the mirror. If you can’t justify something to yourself in short terms, you need to go back to the drawing board.