For anyone who has known me for any length of time, will know that I love musicals. I can sing not just one song from "Les Miserables" but the whole thing. While I haven’t seen/listened to every musical since I live in small town Iowa and there really isn’t a theater scene, I someday would love to say that I have listened to every musical. But one of the things I love about them is that I have learned so many things from musicals that you may not realize is thrown in with the fun song and dance numbers. If I put in all the things I have learned from musicals into this article then it would be about 30 pages long and no one read it. So here are some (not all) of the things I have learned from the various musicals in my life with references.

1. Embrace your weird, it's a part of you.

You may not be born green like Elphaba in "Wicked", but everyone has something that make them unique. People may make fun of you or try to bring you down because of it, but you are the way you are for a reason. Besides life is more enjoyable when you can be yourself.

See "Wicked," "Rent," "Beauty and the Beast," "Pippin," "My Fair Lady," "Once Upon a Mattress," "Next to Normal," "Hairspray" and "Suessical" for some very different storylines you're sure to enjoy.

2. Strong women come in different forms.

Every person is different. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. Some women can be strong and confident while still being quiet, others want to be heard. But they are the same in at least one aspect, they all very know what they believe and will stand b it. Bea, "Something Rotten", is a renaissance women who stands by her husband even he makes dumb decisions and is always there when he needs a little help. Tracy, "Hairspray", could careless what you think of her. She dances on T.V. and walks for civil rights because it's the right thing to do. Diana, "Next to Normal", has a mental illness that leads to the unraveling of her family. She has to choose what is best for her to get better even though it hurts just as bad.

See Bea and Portia ("Something Rotten"), Eliza ("Hamilton"), Fred ("Once Upon a Mattress"), Epoine and Fantine ("Les Mis"), Diana and Natilie ("Next to Normal"), Cinderella ("Cinderella"), The Witch, the Baker’s Wife and Cinderella ("Into the Woods"), The women of "Grease", Tracy ("Hairspray"), Maria ("Sound of Music"), the women of "In the Heights", The women of "Mama Mia", Belle ("Beauty and the Beast"), Eliza ("My Fair Lady"), Eva Peron ("Evita")

3. The greatest thing you can do is love and be loved back

Love is one of the great riches of being human. There are so many different forms of it. Romantic, brotherly, platonic, parental, just to name a few, You don'have being in love with some one to love them and vice versa. But love, no matter what it is, should not be a one sided street. During "Phantom of the Opera", the Phantom is infatuated with Christine whose love is with another. It drives him mad and lead to him kidnapping her desperate from some type of love and when she can not give it crushes him.

See "Les Miserables", "Mamma Mia", "Moulin Rouge", "Evita", "Beauty and the Beast", "Cinderella", "Once upon a Mattress", "Into the Woods", "In the Heights", "She Loves Me", "Phantom of the Opera", "My Fair Lady", "Grease", "The Sound of Music", "Hairspray", "Annie", "Once", "Suessical", "Camelot", "Oklahoma"

4. Sometimes the things you think you want isn’t what you need.

Wants and needs are the driving force of the world. So many times we want and want and want which only leads to more want. It's when we satisfy our needs that we are truly happy. Pippin, from "Pippin", believes he is destined for an extraordinary life that will be anything but ordinary life. As the show reaches it's climax, Pippin is about to have an ending that would be extraordinary but he is stopped by a regular woman who helped him and he changes the course of the show because while he may not have wanted to be tied down, he needed her like she needs him.

See "Pippin", "Les Miserables", Next to Normal, Something Rotten, Mamma Mia, Phantom of the Opera, Sweeney Todd, My Fair Lady, Annie, In the Heights, Suessical

5. Forgiveness and letting go is so important

Sometimes the worst kind of pain is the pain of holding onto a grudge or hate towards a person who hurt you. What makes it so bad is that you don't even know how it is tearing you up until you let go and forgive.Now I'm not saying you can just forgive at the drop of a hat. It's all apart of the healing process and can take time to truly feel forgiveness for the other person. In "Hamilton", Alexander did somethings that cause any wife to push him away. Though she stayed with him, kept him at a distance until she needed him to move on from the pain and move on with their lives.

See "Hamilton" (focusing on Hamilton and Eliza), "Les Miserables", "Next to Normal", "Cinderella", "Wicked", "Camelot", "Phantom of the Opera"

6. You are allowed to make your own choices

Believe or not there is not a binder given to us at birth that has every decision we'll ever make laid out for us. As humans we are able to think logically and abstractly. We are allowed to make selfish choices or choices purely for the benefit of other people. The point is, no one can make you choose anything. You know yourself better than anyone so you know what the best choices for you are. Nina from "In the Heights" just dropped out of school. She was the lucky one who got away but made this to come home. Her parents are upset and confused. They try to convince to go back, eventually she looks at all the sacrifices her father made for her and does choose to go back to school in honor of that.

See "Into the Woods", "Les Miserables", "Evita", "Cinderella", "Pippin", "Next to Normal", "In the Heights", "Hamilton", "Camelot", "Hairspray", "Suessical", "Phantom of the Opera"

And of course:

7. It is perfectly normal to break out in song and dance

Are you having a mental breakdown, in the middle of a political debate, overthrowing the government, or in true love and want everyone to know? Go ahead sing and dance about it, it's not weird, trust me.

See literally every musical known to man.