Everyone always feels like, since they've been through things in life, that they can help you go through the same thing by giving advice.
You know what I’m talking about, when you’re about to go through a drastic change in your life and everyone decides that they have to tell you exactly what is going to happen when all you wanted to do was vent your frustration. They want to tell you how you’re going to feel and how you’re going to react to everything.
One of those things that I’ve learned is that no one can really prepare you for things that are going to happen in your life. Sure, people can tell you exactly what it’s like to feel a certain way when you go through something, but that is totally different than actually experiencing it. For example, they can tell you how upset you will be when that person doesn’t love you back, but they can’t show you what it feels like. Nothing will ever prepare you for how those things truly feel.
People can also tell you that things are going to get better, but you will be skeptical until things actually do get better. People can tell you how hard college is going to be. Most people won't let that advice affect them until receiving a bad grade on a quiz that will push a student to study harder. This is why we experience things: to learn.
Then you have people telling you how difficult your career choice is going to be. When have we found it to be true that the important things in life are easy? The same thing applies for people telling you if your opinion is good or bad. How silly is that? Music is a good exemplification of this. No one can tell you how good or how bad a band is until you listen to them on a back road at midnight and figure it out for yourself.
We’re all different and no one person is exactly the same. That’s pretty staggering when you think about how many people are in this world. This is not to say that I hate advice. I love advice! Both giving and receiving it. However, we don't really have the right to get angry with someone for not listening to our advice. If someone does ask you for advice, be kind with your words and make sure that they know it's ultimately their decision.
