Life Lessons Every Teen Should Know

If there is one thing common to young people across the globe, it is that they do not discuss ALL their issues with parents. Or ask for advice at the right time.

Be it about peer pressure and how not to fall into it. Or how unforgiving the world can be when you make mistakes. Or that in a corporate world, not everybody is a friend, and that you need to root for yourself before expecting others to do it for you.

As I was going through each lesson, I made a mental note about how I will make a list and hand it over to my daughter when she is ready. The list here is what I could compile so far. I hope it helps you, or your child.
Here’s what I made:

• Education and career stays with you. They are your actual identity. Not a man or a woman.
• Focus is all not that hard. It’s just having one thought at a time.
• When in doubt, get your basics right. Everything will fall into place, this works at both professional and personal levels.
• Learn early in life how to counter a sentence that starts with “just a suggestion”. I learned that at 40.
• Saying no and be a little sad for hurting feelings. It’s okay. Saying yes and hurting yourself is not.
• People will move on. Family, friends, girlfriends, boyfriends, everybody. You too should.
• Invest in yourself. Time and money.
• Draw an invisible line between you and the store. Think on which side the money in your wallet should be.
• Love is essential, but overrated. If you find the love of your life, then it’s fantastic. If you didn’t; you will still survive and have a good life.
• You are in this world for yourself, not to fill someone else’s void.
  If your partner/lover/boyfriend/friend had to leave, they would leave anyway. Your fault or theirs doesn’t matter.
• A good person doesn’t mean the ‘right’ person.
• Your looks do not define what you are. Don’t believe me? Google ‘Stephen Hawking’.
• Read Ayn Rand’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’ before you decide on someone. Thrice, at least. It helps you decide who is worthy of you.
• Money is the undercurrent for all human emotions. You may love a person beyond imagination, but you will need money to express your love. Be it taking them for a holiday, paying fees for what they want to learn, providing medical care so they don’t suffer. Love is an emotion, money has the power to turn it to reality. Never belittle or underestimate it.

This post is for my son, my daughter, your child, and every young person fighting it out there. When they look up on the internet for answers, I hope by some random luck; they read this post.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

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