Day 23 of
Blog Every Day In May. I am SO proud of those of you still going strong! Just a little over a week to go.... we got this.
*Two blog posts in one day, wooo! See the rest of this outfit in the next post, if you so desire
*glasses by Polette Eyewear, here
Today's topic: things you've learned that school won't teach you. I wrote this post in the form of a (one-sided) dialogue. Things Life taught me. I don't really know why I did it this way. It just seemed like a little more fun...
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"For Christ's sake," said Life, "stop taking yourself so seriously. You know what the best way to stop feeling sorry for yourself is? To stop destructive behaviors? Focus on others. When you're too busy loving on other people, it's hard to find time to think about your problems, which are probably dumb and possibly self-imposed, anyway. Even if they're not, they seem less scary when you remember that you're not the only one having them."
"Also," Life said, "people are going to hurt you. They are going to react to things you say or do in the all-wrong way, sometimes. Forgive them. Give them a moment. Communicate with them until you work it out. Hope that they will give you this same courtesy when you are busy also being human at a later date." Life paused, and then decided to clarify that. "Sometimes, though, people take advantage of kindness. Sometimes, kindness can look and feel like weakness to abusive people (who are really just hurting inside). Respect yourself enough to walk away from abuse, every time. It's good to have faith in people, it is. But abuse is never okay."
"And on that note," Life continued, "don't waste your time trying to convince unreasonable people of how reasonable you are. It never works. They have to come to a place of Reason on their own, and you probably won't bring them there all by yourself. Besides, some people just genuinely enjoy being assholes. Or maybe it's just all they know."
"Oh and don't forget," said Life, "that you get what you put in. The Law of Attraction is real - it's not science or magic or voodoo, it's just common sense. So put out good things into the universe, and they always have a way of coming back around. They just do."
"And finally," Life sighed, "there will be tragedy. There will be things that happen that don't make any sense no matter how you spin it. You will lose people, sometimes in horrific ways. People who are supposed to be trustworthy will betray you. Human beings will never cease to disappoint. Don't ever stop looking for meaning in all this. Look for it in science, look for it in beauty, look for it in religion, but don't give up on looking for it. Don't be close-minded to discovering other truths than just what you now know. It's a big world out there. Maybe there's lots you still don't understand. Maybe there's lots that CAN'T be understood. Like the little ants that go about their lives in their ant mound, maybe you, too, don't even begin to comprehend the vastness of your world. But don't give up on trying."
And so far, that's most of what I've learned outside of school.
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