A Little Life Lesson
Life is a funny thing.
Think back to elementary school when you went home upset, having had "the worst day of your life," because someone made fun of your shirt or because you didn't get a chance to play on the jungle gym at recess. Because you misspelled a word on your weekly spelling test, or because you tripped and fell in front of the class.
Move on to middle school, when undoubtedly, your best friend suddenly became a backstabbing traitor and you swore you'd never speak to them again, even though a year later you were still having sleepovers and laughing about the fact that you can't remember what split you up in the first place. Your style was never quite good enough and the school dances were spent in the bathroom discussing who was dancing with you, especially when you were jealous.
High school rolls around, and it's pretty much the same game except that now, it's different because you are "mature," whatever that means. Stolen boyfriends, competition for spots on the varsity sports teams, and drama drama drama. You were going to stay best friends with everyone no matter where you were going to college or in life, and nothing- and I mean nothing- was going to change that.
Well I guess the majority of us are still in that college level right now and I can't really look at it as objectively as I can the past. But I do know that a lot of the things that happen in college- the behind-closed-doors stuff nobody wants their parents to hear about, even though every parent knows exactly what's going on and thinks of their similar college days as "the good old days"- are also things that one day I will look back on and think "wow, and I got so worked up over that?" I think we all will.
It's interesting though, because if we didn't deal with the pain of elementary school, we never would have survived middle school. And we were able to battle our way through highschool and feel so sure our friends were forever because we had learned what what important to us in a friend in middle school. And we all know that college wouldn't make a bit of sense without high school behind us. I guess what I'm getting at, is that even though we all can look back to our past and think that the stuff that seemed so huge to us then is really unimportant in the grand scheme of things, that's a lie. Because whatever is going on in our lives is important to us and directs which way we're going to take our lives from there. It's going to effect the decisions we make in the future and determine what our biggest fears are.
I've learned a lot over the years, about everything life entails. We all have. I'm interested to see what I think coming out of college and how much I will have changed since highschool. I've already changed a lot and grown up quite a bit, but I still have my immaturities and it's too early to tell what the outcome of it all will be.
So we grow up, we learn things, we make friends and lose friends, we get hurt and we rally. It's all life and it doesn't matter if we're five and our friend tells us that our new haircut is stupid or if we're twenty and we decide that our lifelong career dreams are no longer what we want, even though we're almost done getting the degree required for them. It's all important, sometimes earth-shattering and something that should not be overlooked. Because whatever you feel, no matter what the situation is, is part of you and until you work through it you can't go anywhere.
I've had a lot of "life lessons" lately and I thought to myself that hey, this is all a big deal. But the truth is that it always has been a big deal, my whole life. The big thing to remember is that what you go through is big and you should never try to tell yourself it's not a big deal or you shouldn't be upset if you are. But you should also remember that the insult you recieved in second grade makes you laugh now, because you're over it and happy. And so whatever you're dealing with now, you will eventually be over it. We always get over it because most of us want to lead a happy life and holding onto anger and pain is no way to be happy.
So live life and never downplay what you feel or think, however trivial the situation may be on paper. Try to look at it objectively and remember that "this, too, shall pass" but allow yourself some time to be upset. If you don't, you're only hindering the process.
This is how I'm gonna try to live life from now on, anyway.
Think back to elementary school when you went home upset, having had "the worst day of your life," because someone made fun of your shirt or because you didn't get a chance to play on the jungle gym at recess. Because you misspelled a word on your weekly spelling test, or because you tripped and fell in front of the class.
Move on to middle school, when undoubtedly, your best friend suddenly became a backstabbing traitor and you swore you'd never speak to them again, even though a year later you were still having sleepovers and laughing about the fact that you can't remember what split you up in the first place. Your style was never quite good enough and the school dances were spent in the bathroom discussing who was dancing with you, especially when you were jealous.
High school rolls around, and it's pretty much the same game except that now, it's different because you are "mature," whatever that means. Stolen boyfriends, competition for spots on the varsity sports teams, and drama drama drama. You were going to stay best friends with everyone no matter where you were going to college or in life, and nothing- and I mean nothing- was going to change that.
Well I guess the majority of us are still in that college level right now and I can't really look at it as objectively as I can the past. But I do know that a lot of the things that happen in college- the behind-closed-doors stuff nobody wants their parents to hear about, even though every parent knows exactly what's going on and thinks of their similar college days as "the good old days"- are also things that one day I will look back on and think "wow, and I got so worked up over that?" I think we all will.
It's interesting though, because if we didn't deal with the pain of elementary school, we never would have survived middle school. And we were able to battle our way through highschool and feel so sure our friends were forever because we had learned what what important to us in a friend in middle school. And we all know that college wouldn't make a bit of sense without high school behind us. I guess what I'm getting at, is that even though we all can look back to our past and think that the stuff that seemed so huge to us then is really unimportant in the grand scheme of things, that's a lie. Because whatever is going on in our lives is important to us and directs which way we're going to take our lives from there. It's going to effect the decisions we make in the future and determine what our biggest fears are.
I've learned a lot over the years, about everything life entails. We all have. I'm interested to see what I think coming out of college and how much I will have changed since highschool. I've already changed a lot and grown up quite a bit, but I still have my immaturities and it's too early to tell what the outcome of it all will be.
So we grow up, we learn things, we make friends and lose friends, we get hurt and we rally. It's all life and it doesn't matter if we're five and our friend tells us that our new haircut is stupid or if we're twenty and we decide that our lifelong career dreams are no longer what we want, even though we're almost done getting the degree required for them. It's all important, sometimes earth-shattering and something that should not be overlooked. Because whatever you feel, no matter what the situation is, is part of you and until you work through it you can't go anywhere.
I've had a lot of "life lessons" lately and I thought to myself that hey, this is all a big deal. But the truth is that it always has been a big deal, my whole life. The big thing to remember is that what you go through is big and you should never try to tell yourself it's not a big deal or you shouldn't be upset if you are. But you should also remember that the insult you recieved in second grade makes you laugh now, because you're over it and happy. And so whatever you're dealing with now, you will eventually be over it. We always get over it because most of us want to lead a happy life and holding onto anger and pain is no way to be happy.
So live life and never downplay what you feel or think, however trivial the situation may be on paper. Try to look at it objectively and remember that "this, too, shall pass" but allow yourself some time to be upset. If you don't, you're only hindering the process.
This is how I'm gonna try to live life from now on, anyway.