生活是最伟大的老师

I'm not saying every parent wants what's best for you (there are outliers), but in general, parents do what they do for you in your best interest.

My parents used to make me do the dishes, cook dinner, sweep the floors, mow the lawn, take out the garbage… the list goes on and on. And at every turn, I'd whine and complain. I'd eventually end up doing it.

Now, I honestly see the value in having learned those skills. I can efficiently cook and clean up after myself — what's not to like?

And even though I despised school, I thank them for the education they helped me acquire.

5. Societal norms don't mean anything.

When you define your life by what society tells you, trust me, life gets much harder to live. You're constantly on the edge thinking to yourself, "Am I behind the times? What's the normal thing to do? Is this acceptable?"

For me, this came from not having confidence in myself to be who I am. I believe that when we are children, we already internalize this. We care not for society, but only for expressing ourselves. Then after puberty, we starting caring a bit too much.

So much so that we begin to lose ourselves.

Let's go back to who we used to be. Carefree of norms and happy for simply living a life our own.

6. You aren't stuck in any situation.

Whenever I’d lose a friend, get an awful grade, or disappoint my parents, I stewed in my own muck. Waiting for the bad moments to go away seemed to be the only solution. Fortunately, I know now that you don’t have to be stuck in bad situations.

You can go out and create better ones.

It all depends on perspective; on how you see the situation. Viewing everything as a learning experience makes life more pleasurable, even during the hard times.

You aren't stuck. You can move on.

7. You learn by doing.

This a lesson that I unknowingly followed for quite some time. I used to try everything at least once, just to see how it was like. But as I entered my teen years, I became wary of trying new things.

Skepticism enraptured me, fear grabbed hold of me, and soon… I became gutless.

I would count myself out of the race before I was even in it.

I think the lesson here is clear.

You cannot change what you didn't know back then.

Though, it would be nice to transfer wisdom across the time-space continuum. I wish I could tell my younger, immature self all of this.

I'd tell him to relax and everything will be fine. All you have to do is believe everything will be okay and believe in your abilities, regardless of any path you choose.

Nonetheless, I'm glad to have learned these lessons the way I did. Each experience helped shape me to become a better person. I don't know if any young people are reading this, but if they are, I'd like to say this:

"Listen to life and it's experiences. Everyone goes through mostly the same things."