Your parents played a significantly defining role in who you are today, and you also learned some of the greatest lessons you can in life right from them. No matter where you are or who you’ve become, those lessons tend to stay with you, even if you’re not always conscious of it. Here are eleven lessons in life all of us should learn from our parents.
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1. Stay Strong To Survive
Remember when you flunked that important test or lost a close friend, and your parents reminded you that you will get past it? In life, you’ll face good and bad times, and the secret to surviving is to keep fighting against the odds. Keep in mind that no matter how bad things seem right now, they will get better; time will pass and you’ll get there. Even in the darkest winters, you know summer is coming, so dig your heels in and keep going.
2. Love Is Always Unconditional
A parent loves his or her child no matter what, and one thing your parents showed you is that the purest type of love has no conditions. They are probably the only people in your life who have always given their love freely to you without expecting anything in return. If your parents loved you less anytime you did something wrong, you wouldn’t be on speaking terms right now! Try to practice unconditional love with other people in your life – the ones who truly deserve it.
3. Encouragement Is Necessary
Your parents probably encouraged you in many endeavors, no matter how small or impossible they seemed, when you were a child. As an adult, you may wonder why they did. What they did was stand by you through your successes and your failures, so you would always keep trying. Honor their efforts by constantly trying, even in times of difficulty or when you’re losing hope, and remember to encourage those around you no matter how small the endeavor.
4. Love Doesn’t Have A Weight In Gold
Parents show us that love isn’t always big surprises and grand gestures; the small things you do for one another count and show how much you really care. Think back to your childhood and ask yourself what gestures you remember from your parents the most? It probably wasn’t an expensive computer or video game you got one year but that time your father tried to learn how to play your favorite game or when your mother would clip articles about your favorite band out of her magazines for you.
Apply this knowledge to displays of love in your own life. By doing small things for other people, you’ll demonstrate how you feel in a more meaningful way and on a more regular basis. Don’t forget to recognize small gestures made towards you as well, as people show love in different ways, and you may be missing these displays because you’re not open to them.
5. Honesty Is The Way To Go
Your parents didn’t sugarcoat all your mistakes, and they always let you know when you said or did something wrong. As you’ve probably realized, this was because they cared about you and wanted you to be able to grow as a person. To do this, you need to keep honesty as your number-one policy. While you don’t have to be blunt to the point of hurting people’s feelings when it can be avoided, you can practice honesty more in your life than you’re currently doing.
6. Taking Responsibility Is Important
Since you were born, you’ve been taken care of by your parents. Because you’re so used to their concern and love, you may be taking it for granted. But raising a child is an incredible responsibility, and your parents have to do it with true dedication and love. They show you that we all have to own up to our responsibilities, as that is the true measure of maturity.
If you do something wrong, own up to it, whether it be in your personal or work life. By taking your lumps, so to speak, you’ll progress as a person and be more able to learn from your mistakes.
7. Women Are Sources Of Strength
True strength is something you can learn from your mother. Time and time again, she shows you that women have enough power to hold together a whole family, even in the face of difficult times. Draw from your memories of your mother’s strength when you feel as if you’re facing something you can’t handle.
8. Forgive And Forget Is The Way To Go
You will forgive someone you love even if they hurt you because, ultimately, the love you feel for them is bigger than the anger you feel towards them. Even when you frustrated your parents with your demands and whims as a child or disappointed them, they always forgave you in the end. Everything they do comes from the love they feel for you, and this includes their forgiveness.
Apply forgive and forget to your own life wherever you can. By letting things that hurt you in the past go, you’ll be able to improve your relationships and you’ll feel better.
9. Happiness Comes From The Little Things
The older you get, the more complicated life gets. You join the race for success and fame without realizing that your hunger for success in life is also draining you mentally. You constantly worry, feel stress and are never totally satisfied.
However, your parents should serve to remind you that happiness is in life’s little things, like family game nights, movie outings, Sunday lunches and when laughter is heard throughout your living room.
Never lose sight of the small things and how much happiness they can bring. The best things in life often don’t come with bells and whistles, so if you’re not paying attention, you may be missing out on the best your life has to offer.
10. There’s Strength In Unity
Your family is the one thing that is always there for you, even as you’re finding your own way in life. There’s comfort and strength in knowing that wherever you go and whateve
r you do, there are always people who will have your back. Use this knowledge to propel yourself forward in difficult, scary times or to push you to try something you really want t
o do but you’re not confident about.
11. There’s Value In Sacrifice
Sacrifice can be a tough idea for people because our basic human instinct is self-preservation, but this is an area where love is able to defy logic. Keep your ambitions and hopes alive, but remember how much those would really be worth without the people you care about to share them with. Sometimes, you’ll need to sacrifice in order to be with the ones you love, so be prepared for when that moment comes.
