Learning and Living Through Life Lessons

I remember it quite clearly. When I was twelve, I was sure that I knew all there was to learn about life. I think most kids go through this, and that is part of the reason why the adolescent years can be a bit rocky. Teens are sure they know a lot about life, and parents are pretty sure they have no idea what they are in for. Now that I have been on my own for a long time, I have learned that the life lessons never stop coming, and the older I get the more I realize I know absolutely nothing.

You can have a lot of opinions on a lot of things, but you never truly know how you will feel until you have actually gone through something. Some of the toughest life lessons are when you face the death of someone close to you, or when your marriage breaks up. You may have to deal with a spouse that has cheated, but wants to be forgiven. You can say that you would never stay, but your life lessons may lead you in another direction. You can say what you want, but until you live it, you don’t know what you are going to do in any hard situation.

There is not much you can do to stop your child from going through many of the same life lessons that you have had to live through. You may feel helpless, but helping them is not always a good idea. They are not going to learn if you fix the problem for them. You can be there for them, comfort them, and even offer them advice, but you should resist the urge to fix it for them. These life lessons are the things that are going to make them who they are, and they are going to make them stronger. One of the hardest things parents face is letting go enough to let their kids make it on their own.

When life lessons happen at any age, help is always out there. There are times when you find strength that you never knew you had, but there are also times when things may happen one after another and your brain simply cannot cope. It does not mean that you are weak, it just means that you don’t know how to handle your life lessons. That’s okay. What you need is the support of friends and family, and even the services of a good therapist. Going to see a therapist is a good idea, and never let anyone tell you to just ‘get over it’. Do what you must do to get through and preserve your sanity when your lessons of life get just too big for you to handle.