In fifteen years of my educational career, I have come to learn that some of the most important lessons will happen outside of the classroom that only the harsh reality of life can preach you. Some people with their luck shielding them will get through easily compared to some who always complain about the lemons in life might have to learn the hard way. Let’s face it life is harsh and isn’t a fairy tale with rainbows, fairies and unicorns. Life is short there is no time to leave important words unsaid so friends I am sharing my life lessons that I’ve learned in the real world. Jot these lessons in your diary for years to come …
- Happiness has an I and not a Y:
Nobody else can make you happy, it’s up to you to know what will it take to be balance your life and be happy with it. Your happiness and state of mind are your responsibility. The happiest people have low expectations, few desires, and great appreciation for the little things. Often, we focus on things we don’t have, things we want, and things that aren’t perfect in our lives. These thoughts will only lead you to an ungrateful mentality, and the never-ending search for a “perfect” life that doesn’t exist. It is great to have goals and things to look forward to. Don’t get me wrong—I love saving up for a brand new purse as much as any girl! But I find that I am much happier when I focus on the small blessings and the things I have instead of worrying about what I don’t have. Take a few minutes each day to yourself and think about how grateful you are for your family, your friends, having food on the table, and all the other small pleasures in life that go unnoticed. . Relations enhance our lives and makes us stronger, but they do not “make” us happy, to be happy and content is solely on you.
- You can’t Control everything in life:
Worrying about things you cannot control is the biggest waste of your time. Throughout your lifespan there will be circumstances that you want to control but they are 100% out of your reach. This is for a reason. If we could control everything, we would know what will happen next, it would just be like watching a movie on repeat. Believe me that would be damn boring, it wouldn’t be exciting, and you wouldn’t learn a single thing. You can live a stress-free life if you learn to let go of the things you cannot control. Because when we do try to control situations, we hurt people around us.
- There is no such thing as a perfect life:
The overall goal in many people’s lives seems to find the perfect partner, reach the perfect weight, have the perfect job, or wear the perfect wardrobe. It’s just that everybody in this highly techno-geeky world seems to be obsessed by the “P-factor”. The problem is; that nothing in this world is perfect. Everything has its flaws, and most of those flaws are what makes your life exciting or challenging. And, in fact, pretty perfect if you look at it the right way. Take these imperfect moments as positive opportunities to make exciting changes instead of dwelling on the negative aspects. And, enjoy the next chapter that awaits you after these changes do happen.
It’s free to dream but always remember to keep your feet on the ground.
- Less is more — quality over quantity:
Doing more in order to get ahead may have worked in high school, but getting a real job most often doesn’t allow for the same strategy. Some people may appreciate quantity over quality, but with the changing times, this sort of thinking has become extinct. We may find ourselves having to redefine the same project several times, cutting out the excess trash, in order to produce something worth selling.
- If we don’t adapt, we don’t survive:
There won’t be any books that can tell you how to adapt from your original environment to your new one. You can’t find a book that would give you information of where you can go when you feel homesick on your new place. Things, situations and circumstances keeps changing constantly and more often than not, without any warning. This would all be new to you and the only way to learn it is to experience it. After falling a few times on our asses, we learn that if we want to survive and prosper, we must adapt —the quicker the better.
- The importance of networking:
School can teach us how to make friends, but life teaches us the importance of powerful acquaintances and how to make them. Once free to roam about in the real world, we quickly learn that getting ahead in life often depends on whom you know and on how good of terms you are on with them. It’s better to have powerful people around you but see to it you watch your back , people are not so trustworthy.
- Failure is stepping stone to success:
It’s okay to fail, it’s not doomsday for you. Everyone has failed at one time or another. Failure is a great life teacher. It teaches us humility and how to correct our course of action. Thomas Edison had a great attitude towards failure. He said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” It’s just good to learn from our own mistakes rather than learning from others.
- Life teaches us to multi-task:
It teaches us to balance conflicting responsibilities from school, relationships, extra-curricular activities and part-time jobs. It also makes you the master of taking responsibilities for your actions because your boss doesn’t care that you had a huge paper due last night and your professor doesn’t care that your girlfriend is mad at you again. It’s inevitable that at some point, the various roles we take on throughout college will interact negatively and leave us to pick up the pieces. This is also a game the real world forces us to play, over and over again. In the years after college we will prioritize and re-prioritize our lives more times than we will be able to count. It takes a lot of trial and error to get things right, but that’s a game we’ve been familiar with for years. After all, succeeding at college is the art of taking right guesses. And so is succeeding at life.
- Blood is thicker than water:
We all have friends around us. They might not be with us at all times but our family would be there no matter what. Nothing can comfort us like fathers advice, mothers caring nature, siblings hugs. We know that they will understand us and would stay up all night just to listen to our ramble. No matter how good your friendship is, everyone will prefer family over an outsider. Accept it; it’s the reality.
10. Good people do exist in this mean world:
As is rightly said, “A friend in need is a friend indeed”. Friends are an important part of every individual’s life. You talk with them about every little thing; share your top secrets and what not. You enjoy their company. Sometimes words are left unsaid and we would look at each other and would know what it means. They sometimes teach you, make you learn new things, point out your mistakes and help you rectify them, cheer you up as and when needed, offer you a fresh perspective and always love, care and support you. It is therefore important whom to choose as a friend and this decision has to be wise enough as your friends reflect what you are.
I hope these lessons helped you all to learn something about yourself today. You need lessons inside and outside the classroom to truly understand how you want to live your life. It’s like going through the storm until it’s over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. You will be a stronger person with an experience how to survive a storm. That’s what this storm’s all about. You will be a new you, polished and robust.
By: BASMAH ANSARI S.A
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