In the moment, we may think our parents, friends, or guardians are being mean, but in reality, it's only helping us out in the long run. I'm grateful for every little ounce of tough love that anyone has ever given me. It's very easy to separate the people who have been babied their whole lives and the ones who got told to suck it up. Tough love teaches you to be independent, strong and disciplined.

It's very important for character development to be given some criticism even if it seems a little harsh at the time. It shows that person cares deeply about your growth and well-being. You can't be told you're wonderful and can do no wrong all the time...you'd turn into a self-righteous monster. (I'm sure you could name a few off the top of your head!)

Those times you were told, "It really wasn't your best work today and you could use some improvement," or, "I know you think it's the best decision for you, but it's not." That kind of tough love is crucial in driving you to become your best self. We can't do it all by ourselves, sometimes we need a little extra push to stay level-headed.

With tough love comes wisdom and strength. We all mess up, we all make terrible decisions-- we're only human. But it helps to have someone address those mistakes and give some insight on how to improve from that point on. Our mistakes are lessons learned and make us stronger than we were before.

I feel sorry for the people who clearly have never gotten much tough love from family or friends. You can see how it affects them mentally and how they really don't know what it's like to be independent. Those people who have been babied their whole lives seem to have extreme emotions and are very sensitive to everything. It can be difficult to deal with a person who hasn't been given much tough love because they never think they can be in the wrong and they don't know how to take criticism. It's about time someone told them to suck it up and rub some dirt in it.

So next time you think someone is being a little rough on you, remember they're only trying to help. Sometimes it takes the brutal truth to open your eyes and teach you a lesson. Respect tough love and grow from it.