5 Things I Learned the Hard Way

As a child, I can remember saying, “I can’t wait to be a grown up.  They have it so easy!”  Now, years later, I see how sadly mistaken I was.  Being an adult is not easy.  Many times, I long for the days when I could just sit back, relax, and remain worry free.  As we grow into adults, we learn so many things. Some of those things we learn easily and some of them…(You know the rest).  Thinking back on my journey to womanhood, here are five things about life that I have learned the hard way:

#5  Nothing is free.  My children are just like I was when I was little.  So innocent and naive.  Anytime someone said that something was free, I believed them.  Win a free trip to so and so!  Buy this and get that free!  Sign up for this credit card and get this t-shirt free! Ha.  (Boy was I crazy for believing that one.  Though it was “free”, that was one EXPENSIVE t-shirt!)

#4  If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, chances are, it’s a duck.  Maya Angelou said it best when she said, “When people show you who they are, believe them.”

#3  Nobody’s life is perfect.  I grew up in The Cosby Show era. The Huxtables were a picture-perfect family that everyone envied. I secretly wished that Rudy would run away and that Cliff and Claire would kidnap me or pay my parents to have me replace her.  I was super shocked when I finally realized that scripted lives don’t exist in reality and that perfect families on existed on Thursday nights at 7:00 on NBC.

#2  Money does not grow on trees.  My parents tricked me.  I thought that there was some endless supply of money that they tapped into whenever their wallets were empty!  I cannot remember a time when I asked my parents for something (within reason) and they didn’t make it happen.  Now that it’s my turn to do that, I find myself looking endlessly for that pot at the end of the rainbow!  (Anyone with tips, please email me.  Please.)

#1 Being a teacher is hard work!  I decided that I wanted to be a teacher when I was in middle school.  My teachers made it look so, so easy! But, it only took me a few short months in the profession to see that teaching is not the walk in the park that it appears to be.  Though it is a very rewarding career, it brings with it demands that only those brave enough to wear the badge can relate to.  This Taylor Mali video explains it best:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=RxsOVK4syxU

There are certain things that people can tell you over and over again.  But, it’s not until you learn those things for yourselves that you really start to believe them.  Life is the best teacher that you’ll ever have.  There is nothing as profound and eye-opening as living and experiencing those things that you’ve heard your mother and grandmother tell you time and time again.

I guess this age-old adage is true:  You live and you learn.