From the day we are born, we begin to learn from others and the environment we are in. We receive so much information daily from our first memories that most of it isn't even registered through our consciousness, but our subconscious recognizes it. It may hold influence from it. We won't even realize it unless we focus on it or think about the subject. However, through all of this, our culture, family, school, and friends can miss out on teaching us so much that hold more importance than I realized long ago....
1. Self Care & Love
Throughout our childhoods, we rarely care about anything other than our toys and other such daily aspects. But once we grow to, normally, the age of puberty, a lot of us start to get insecurities. These are brought on by our quickly changing bodies and the viewpoints that others and culture may have on it as well as school, family, and other stress sources. I went through these. It can make you spend so much of your time being uncomfortable.
Learning self-care and self-love changed my life drastically. Learning to relax and treat yourself sometimes can break down towers that were leaning over your head. Learning to love yourself for who you are, what you are, your likes and dislikes, your mistakes, your successes, and everything else increases self confidence by miles. When this happens, a tidal wave rushes over your life. You are able to present yourself better. You make friendships easier. You delete negative people easier. You learn that you actually matter.
2. How To Stand Up To People
Throughout most of our childhoods, we are also taught to "be nice to others" as well as "put the other person first" or "be the bigger person." These are all great lessons when you know when to put them to use. Not everyone is as nice as you. Not everyone will listen to your opinion. Some people will be rude and mean just for the hell of it or for some unimportant reason.
Learning to stand up for yourself is so very important. When you don't, the likelihood of getting run over and used becomes so much higher. When someone realizes that you're unwilling to put up with something just to keep everyone happy, they will either leave (bye bye) or change their ways. Knowing when to do so is an important aspect of this. If you know the treatment toward you is wrong or you know you're the correct one in a situation, you have every right to stand up for yourself. And that doesn't mean you need an army to stand with you. *Precaution: If you realize you're wrong, notice it. Change. Become better. Don't stay stuck in a bad place because of your pride/ego.
3. Importance of Originality
For most students at a conscious age level, a lot of us mimic others or hide certain traits of ourselves to fit in and seem more like others. We try the latest fashion styles, whether we like them or not. We like and dislike people because someone we know does or doesn't. We pretend to like activities to be more like someone else we admire. We change ourselves so someone will like us, whether that be for friendship or relationship based.
None of this is worth it. Trends change. If you're lying about yourself, you'll end up unhappy. You'll have fake friends; if they find out the truth, you'll probably be left in the dirt. Quality is better than quantity, and no one is ever the "only one." Do what you like. Dress how you like. Be yourself. You may not be the most popular. You may have to deal with judgment from some, but it's all worth it. While that negativity is there, you'll also have positivity. You'll gain true friends that like you for you. You'll be happier. You'll have more confidence. You won't waste your life trying to be something you're not.
4. Importance of Hard Work
A lot of people procrastinate. A lot of us can be extremely lazy. I am definitely one of those people. It's a habit, and we have to work to break it. Whether it be with small things or large things, we're bound to do it at least once. The most common is with school work. We do the least possible work to get by and pass. Or with exercising - maybe another day.
Regardless of what it is, putting your best effort into something will almost always come with a reward later on. Getting good grades as well as truly studying and learning the material means less to learn in college as well as less to pay from the earning of scholarships. Working out for an hour a day, three or four days, can get you to haul it up a flight of stairs and not pass out. Put in the work, and it'll pay for itself later.
5. What Matters.
It's very easy to get our priorities terribly disorganized. This varies for almost everyone, but it's very important to know if what you have at the top is what should actually be there.
For myself, I realized the importance of my family. My friends. My school work. My future. My attitude. My opinions. Myself. Although all of this begins with "my," it definitely doesn't put others low. If anything, it makes others more important. If you are happier and content with yourself, how your life is going, and you realize that in your opinions you should have open-minded and non-judgmental ones, others profit too. You become nicer and more open. You learn how someone really is before stereotyping. You see positives in negative situations.
Money is important in our culture; it's definitely not worth giving up everything else for though. The true value lies in things that cannot be seen.
