Everyone's parents teach them the basic life lessons-- like to eat with your mouth closed, use your manners and to look both ways before crossing the street. Some life lessons, however, are not as widely taught but are still just as important. This is a small sample of the many lessons my mom has taught me throughout my life.
1. Paint your toenails if you're going to wear open-toed shoes. It makes you look more put together and well groomed. Also, it's cute and is a fun way to add some color to your outfit!
2. If you are going to wear heels, know how to walk in them. If I couldn't walk in a pair of heels my mom wouldn't let me leave the house in them. She would have me practice walking in the shoes around the house until I was confident in them. Keep your shoulders back, head held high and walk with purpose.
3. Not everybody is going to like you. And that's OK. It's none of your business if they don't like you, that's their own problem, so don't lose any sleep over it.
4. Don't limit yourself in terms of friends. You can never have too many! What happens if you limit yourself and your friend moves away or you drift apart? There's nothing wrong with having a few close friends, but it's also good to branch out and expand your horizons.
5. Don't make yourself too available to boys. Boys like girls who have friends, are involved in different activities and who have social lives. Don't wait around waiting for a boy to call you, make plans with your friends, and if a boy doesn't put in any effort then he isn't worth it.
6. You can never have too much chocolate! My Nana passed this down to my mom and her sisters and my mom passed this down to me. Chocolate goes with everything, pancakes, cereal, strawberries, but the best is a huge slice of chocolate cake with a cold glass of milk.
7. Less is more. Especially when it comes to makeup. It's so much easier to add layers than it is to remove them. Makeup is for enhancement, not for completely changing the way you look.
8. Find something you love and learn how to make money doing it. So many people are stuck in jobs they hate but life is so much better and more fulfilling when you are doing something that brings you happiness. Life is too short to not be doing what you love.
9. Do what makes you happy. It doesn't matter what everyone else thinks. As long as you are happy and not bringing yourself or anyone else down, the opinion of others does not matter.
10. Stop worrying so much about what everyone thinks of you, because again, it really doesn't matter. If you think you look stupid doing something, who cares? Everyone else is probably so concerned with making themselves look good, they probably aren't even paying any attention to you, so go out and have fun!
Of course, there were many more life lessons than on what is on this list, but these were some of the top lessons to stick out to me. Thank you, Mama Joan, for all the tips, I'm sure there will be many more!
