important lesson in life essay

Essays About Life Lessons: Top 5 Examples and 7 Prompts

Read our guide to see the top examples and prompts on essays about life lessons to communicate your thoughts effectively.

Jordan Peterson once said, “Experience is the best teacher, and the worst experiences teach the best lessons.” The many life lessons we’ll accumulate in our life will help us veer in the right direction to fulfill our destinies. Whether it’s creative or nonfiction, as long as it describes the author’s personal life experiences or worldview, recounting life lessons falls under the personal or narrative essay category. 

To successfully write an essay on this topic, you must connect with your readers and allow them to visualize, understand, and get inspired by what you have learned about life. To do this, you must remember critical elements such as a compelling hook, engaging story, relatable characters, suitable setting, and significant points. 

See below five examples of life lessons essays to inspire you:

1. Life Lessons That the First Love Taught Me by Anonymous on GradesFixer.Com

2. the dad’s life lessons and the role model for the children by anonymous on studymoose.com, 3. studying history and own mistakes as life lessons: opinion essay by anonymous on edubirdie.com, 4. life lessons by anonymous on phdessay.com, 5. valuable lessons learned in life by anonymous on eduzaurus.com, 1. life lessons from books, 2. my biggest mistake and the life lesson i learned, 3. the life lessons i’ve learned, 4. life lessons from a popular show, 5. using life lessons in starting a business, 6. life lessons you must know, 7. kids and life lessons.

“I thought I knew absolutely everything about loving someone by the age of fourteen. Clearly I knew nothing and I still have so much to learn about what it is like to actually love someone.”

The author relates how their first love story unfolds, including the many things they learned from it. An example is that no matter how compatible the couple is if they are not for each other, they will not last long and will break up eventually. The writer also shares that situations that test the relationship, such as jealousy, deserve your attention as they aid people in picking the right decisions. The essay further tells how the writer’s relationship became toxic and affected their mental and emotional stability, even after the breakup. To cope and heal, they stopped looking for connections and focused on their grades, family, friends, and self-love.

“I am extremely thankful that he could teach me all the basics like how to ride a bike, how to fish and shoot straight, how to garden, how to cook, how to drive, how to skip a rock, and even how to blow spitballs. But I am most thankful that could teach me to stand tall (even though I’m 5’3”), be full with my heart and be strong with my mind.”

In this essay, the writer introduces their role model who taught them almost everything they know in their seventeen years of life, their father. The writer shares that their father’s toughness, stubbornness, and determination helped them learn to stand up for themselves and others and not be a coward in telling the truth. Because of him, the author learned how to be kind, generous, and mature. Finally, the author is very grateful to their father, who help them to think for themselves and not believe everything they hear.

“In my opinion, I believe it is more important to study the past rather than the present because we can learn more from our mistakes.”

This short essay explains the importance of remembering past events to analyze our mistakes. The author mentions that when people do this, they learn and grow from it, which prevents them from repeating the same error in the present time. The writer also points out that everyone has made the mistake of letting others dictate how their life goes, often leading to failures. 

“… I believe we come here to learn a valuable lesson. If we did not learn this lesson through out a life time, our souls would come back to repeat the process.” 

This essay presents three crucial life lessons that everyone needs to know. The first is to stop being too comfortable in taking people and things for granted. Instead, we must learn to appreciate everything. The second is to realize that mistakes are part of everyone’s life. So don’t let the fear of making mistakes stop you from trying something new. The third and final lesson is from Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.” People learn and grow as they age, so everyone needs to remember to live their life as if it were their last with no regrets.

“Life lessons are not necessarily learned from bad experiences, it can also be learned from good experiences, accomplishments, mistakes of other people, and by reading too.”

The essay reminds the readers to live their life to the fullest and cherish people and things in their lives because life is too short. If you want something, do not let it slip away without trying. If it fails, do not suffer and move on. The author also unveils the importance of travelling, keeping a diary, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

7 Prompts for Essays About Life Lessons

Use the prompts below if you’re still undecided on what to write about:

As mentioned above, life lessons are not only from experiences but also from reading. So for this prompt, pick up your favorite book and write down the lessons you learned from it. Next, identify each and explain to your readers why you think it’s essential to incorporate these lessons into real life. Finally, add how integrating these messages affected you. 

There are always lessons we can derive from mistakes. However, not everyone understands these mistakes, so they keep doing them. Think of all your past mistakes and choose one that had the most significant negative impact on you and the people around you. Then, share with your readers what it is, its causes, and its effects. Finally, don’t forget to discuss what you gained from these faults and how you prevent yourself from doing them again.

Compile all the life lessons you’ve realized from different sources. They can be from your own experience, a relative’s, a movie, etc. Add why these lessons resonate with you. Be creative and use metaphors or add imaginary scenarios. Bear in mind that your essay should convey your message well.

Popular shows are an excellent medium for teaching life lessons to a broad audience. In your essay, pick a well-known work and reflect on it. For example, Euphoria is a TV series that created hubbub for its intrigue and sensitive themes. Dissect what life lessons one can retrieve from watching the show and relate them to personal encounters. You can also compile lessons from online posts and discussions.

If the subject of “life lessons” is too general for you, scope a more specific area, such as entrepreneurship. Which life lessons are critical for a person in business? To make your essay easier to digest, interview a successful business owner and ask about the life lessons they’ve accumulated before and while pursuing their goals.

Use this prompt to present the most important life lessons you’ve collected throughout your life. Then, share why you selected these lessons. For instance, you can choose “Live life as if it’s your last” and explain that you realized this life lesson after suddenly losing a loved one.

Have you ever met someone younger than you who taught you a life lesson? If so, in this prompt, tell your reader the whole story and what life lesson you discovered. Then, you can reverse it and write an incident where you give a good life lesson to someone older than you – say what it was and if that lesson helped them. Read our storytelling guide to upgrade your techniques.

33 Important Life Lessons to Learn in Life Early

There are so many lessons I wish I had learned while I was young enough to appreciate and apply them. The thing with wisdom, and often with life lessons in general, is that they’ve learned in retrospect, long after we needed them. The good news is that other people can benefit from our experiences and the lessons we’ve learned.

Life is a learning process. You can learn important life lessons by reading, watching educative videos, or through experience. You can save a lot of time and energy by learning from other peoples’ experiences.

33 Lessons in Life You Need to Learn

Here’re important life lessons you should learn early on:

1. Money Will Never Solve Your Real Problems

Money is a tool; a commodity that buys you necessities and some nice “wants,” but it is not the panacea to your problems.

There are a great many people who are living on very little, yet have wonderfully full and happy lives… and there are sadly a great many people who are living on quite a lot, yet have terribly miserable lives.

Money can buy a nice home, a great car, fabulous shoes, even a bit of security and some creature comforts, but it cannot fix a broken relationship, or cure loneliness, and the “happiness” it brings is only fleeting and not the kind that really and truly matters. Happiness is not for sale . If you’re expecting the “stuff” you can buy to “make it better,” you will never be happy.

2. Pace Yourself

Often when we’re young, just beginning our adult journey we feel as though we have to do everything at once. We need to decide everything, plan out our lives, experience everything, get to the top, find true love, figure out our life’s purpose , and do it all at the same time.

Slow down—don’t rush into things. Let your life unfold. Wait a bit to see where it takes you, and take time to weigh your options. Enjoy every bite of food, take time to look around you, let the other person finish their side of the conversation. Allow yourself time to think, to mull a bit. Try these 7 Ways To Train Yourself To Be More Mindful.

Taking action is critical. Working towards your goals and making plans for the future is commendable and often very useful, but rushing full-speed ahead towards anything is a one-way ticket to burnout and a good way to miss your life as it passes you by.

3. You Can’t Please Everyone

“I don’t know the secret to success, but the secret to failure is trying to please everyone” – Bill Cosby.

You don’t need everyone to agree with you or even like you. It’s human nature to want to belong, to be liked, respected, and valued, but not at the expense of your integrity and happiness. Other people cannot give you the validation you seek. That has to come from inside.

Speak up, stick to your guns, assert yourself when you need to, demand respect, stay true to your values. This is What You Need to Do to Stop Being a People Pleaser .

4. Your Health Is Your Most Valuable Asset

Health is an invaluable treasure—always appreciate, nurture, and protect it. Good health is often wasted on the young before they have a chance to appreciate it for what it’s worth.

We tend to take our good health for granted because it’s just there. We don’t have to worry about it, so we don’t really pay attention to it… until we have to.

Heart disease, bone density, stroke, many cancers—the list of many largely preventable diseases is long, so take care of your health now, or you’ll regret it later on.

5. You Don’t Always Get What You Want

“Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.” – John Lennon

No matter how carefully you plan and how hard you work, sometimes things just don’t work out the way you want them to… and that’s okay.

We have all of these expectations; predetermined visions of what our “ideal” life will look like, but all too often, that’s not the reality of the life we end up with. Sometimes our dreams fail and sometimes we just change our minds mid-course. Sometimes we have to flop to find the right course and sometimes we just have to try a few things before we find the right direction.

6. It’s Not All About You

You are not the epicenter of the universe. It’s very difficult to view the world from a perspective outside of your own since we are always so focused on what’s happening in our own lives. What do I have to do today? What will this mean for me, for my career, for my life? What do I want?

It’s normal to be intensely aware of everything that’s going on in your own life, but you need to pay as much attention to what’s happening around you, and how things affect other people in the world as you do to your own life. It helps to keep things in perspective.

7. There’s No Shame in Not Knowing

No one has it all figured out. Nobody has all the answers. There’s no shame in saying “I don’t know.” Pretending to be perfect doesn’t make you perfect. It just makes you neurotic to keep up the pretense of manufactured perfection.

We have this idea that there is some kind of stigma or shame in admitting our limitations or uncertainly, but we can’t possibly know everything. We all make mistakes and mess up occasionally. We learn as we go, that’s life.

Besides—nobody likes a know-it-all. A little vulnerability makes you human and oh so much more relatable.

8. Love Is More Than a Feeling; It’s a Choice

That burst of initial exhilaration, pulse-quickening love, and passion does not last long. But that doesn’t mean long-lasting love is not possible.

Love is not just a feeling ; it’s a choice that you make every day. We have to choose to let annoyances pass, to forgive, to be kind, to respect, to support, to be faithful.

Relationships take work. Sometimes it’s easy and sometimes it’s incredibly hard. It is up to us to choose how we want to act, think and speak in a relationship.

9. Perspective Is a Beautiful Thing

Typically, when we’re worried or upset, it’s because we’ve lost perspective. Everything that is happening in our lives seems so big, so important, so do or die, but in the grand picture, this single hiccup often means next to nothing.

The fight we’re having, the job we didn’t get, the real or imagined slight, the unexpected need to shift course, the thing we wanted but didn’t get. Most of it won’t matter 20, 30, 40 years from now. It’s hard to see long term when all you know is short term, but unless it’s life-threatening, let it go, and move on.

This is Why Your Perception Is Your Reality .

10. Patience Is a Virtue

One of the most important life lessons that you need to learn is the importance of patience. Patience is defined as an individual’s ability to wait for something significant to happen without feeling frustrated due to the delay. In life, you’ll have to wait for a lot of things without feeling negative.

Managing your money requires patience. You’ll have to do your best to avoid getting frustrated by the challenges and time required to pay off your debt, increase your income and enjoy your returns on investments. When you become patient, you’ll achieve your biggest goals and experience true happiness.

11. Your Comfort Zone Is Your Enemy

If you want to achieve your biggest goals in life, you’ll need to get out of your comfort zone. Also, achieving significant things with your money will require you to feel uncomfortable.

A good example of getting out of the comfort zone to achieve your financial goals is investing your money. Even if you don’t know everything about investing, you need to start investing early for your money to work for you. Another instance can be meeting with your employer to ask for a raise. While it’s a difficult thing to do, it will help you achieve your financial goals in the long run.

12. Be the Early Bird

In general, people who adopt something early or arrive first usually have an edge over latecomers. For example, arriving early at an event allows you to pick a good seat and meet important people. Starting early or being the first has lots of benefits.

You can apply this lesson to your finances especially when it comes to saving and investing. People who start investing early always have an edge over the latecomers. Your money needs time to multiply in the market. Therefore, always strive to be the early bird.

13. Starting Is the Only Way to Make Progress

This is one of the life lessons learned that is worth stating this year. The only way to make progress in every aspect of life is by taking action. No progress happens when you complain.

Progress automatically begins when you start. Setting goals is a huge part of starting. Getting one percent better every day is better than not getting started at all.

14. Live In the Present Moment

The majority of experts in the field of psychology usually tell people that a huge part of depression revolves around living in the past. Anxiety, on the other hand, is caused by spending a lot of time worrying about the future.

Focusing too much on the negative side of life or trying to come up with a perfect plan for the future can make you miss out on the present moment. Missing out on the present moment can lead to regret. Strive to focus on the present moment today to transform your life.

15. Being Nice to People Pays

We are all different and unique. Nobody is better or smarter than you. Therefore, you don’t have to boss people around or domineer them. Being nice to people especially when you are working your way up will help you achieve your goals quickly.

No one knows what life has in store for them. Being kind and supportive will go a long way in transforming your life. One day, you’ll need a kindness from other people. And you’ll always get what you give. This is one of the good life lessons to adopt early in life.

16. Set Boundaries

One of the best lessons in life that you need to learn in life is setting healthy boundaries especially if you are around toxic people.

Regardless of whether they are family members, or co-workers, being around toxic people leads to arguments, high blood pressure, and a negative attitude. If toxic people have to be in your life, you need to limit the capacity. Setting healthy boundaries and sticking to them will pay off in the long run.

17. Work-Life Balance Is Key

Most people around the world have a poor work-life balance. They spend most of their time working hard to increase their income, get a promotion, or avoid losing their job.

When you spend too much time in the workplace, you’ll start neglecting important people in life. Also, you need to take care of yourself and your wellbeing. By organizing yourself and managing your time effectively, you’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish in less time. Focus on working smarter instead of harder.

18. Life Is Not Fair

In the end, one of the valuable life lessons that everybody learns is life doesn’t always go the way we want. This can lead to anger and frustration. However, in the end, life always has the best intentions for us.

When you acknowledge this lesson, you’ll start living fully because you’ll be aware of the fact that there is nothing perfect in life. Most people go through their lives feeling like the world owes them something. However, this is not true. You’ll have to make your way in life. And there’ll always be people who are more knowledgeable than you.

19. You Are Stronger Than You Think

Regardless of what life throws at you, you are stronger than you think. You can stand up for yourself and take everything that life throws at you. You’ll always figure things out even if it seems like an impossible challenge. As time passes, you’ll learn that you are stronger than you think and you can face your challenges confidently.

20. All Problems Have Solutions

This is an important life lesson that we all learn in life. When you are faced with a problem, it’s always important to put in the time and energy to find a solution. Even if you don’t find the best solution right away, don’t give up. There will be times when life will throw you a ball. And you’ll think that things cannot get worse.

At your worst moment, pick yourself up, think of the best solutions and focus on rising with more strength. One of the best ways to come up with solutions is by writing down your problem in detail and the best solutions. Also, don’t be afraid to seek help when you need it.

21. Forgiveness Sets You Free

You’ve probably heard numerous times people say that someone doesn’t deserve their forgiveness. And it’s true. Other people don’t deserve your forgiveness. However, you do. You have to release the hurt, anger, and frustration towards other people. And the best way is to forgive.

Anger and hurt are not only bad for the people close to you but also for yourself. You’ll never find true joy, inner peace, or happiness if you keep carrying and spreading hurt and anger. Let go of toxic emotions. And you’ll start enjoying your life to the fullest. Forgive other people for your sake.

22. Some People Don’t Want You to Succeed

This is one of the most important life lessons that you’ll learn in life. Your family and friends always want the best for you. However, they are afraid of losing you. They want you to stay safe and live in your comfort zone.

They don’t want you to do crazy things like moving out, starting a business, moving in with a partner, or starting a new career to name a few. You have to do what you want without worrying about what other people think.

Once you start your journey, the right people will show up. Stick to your path. Remember, it’s your life. This is the best lesson for life.

23. Help Others as Much as You Can

You need to start helping people as much as you can. It doesn’t have to be your family and friends all the time. It could be elderly at the parking lot, a single mom on the street, or volunteering to create animal shelters. There are a lot of ways to help people in your world.

Your world is transformed by your example and not your opinion. Instead of judging other people, you should reach out and help them. The one thing that you can do for someone can make a huge difference in their lives. Help people and they’ll help you.

24. Don’t Focus Too Much on Your Plans

Life teaches us lessons to prove us wrong by throwing weird obstacles in your path. You don’t have to live your life strictly according to plan.

The best part about life is there is no plan. You can spend your days creating plans only to have a random thing thrown at you. Learn to adapt and go with the flow. Be open-minded and flexible.

25. Nothing Is Permanent

In life, there’ll always be good and bad times. However, nothing lasts forever. All the horrible things that you are experiencing today will come to an end. A few years from now, you’ll be laughing at yourself.

Good things come to an end too. That’s why you need to avoid getting too wrapped up in the current happenings and cherish the good times.

Don’t be afraid if you are in the middle of a crisis. It will come to an end. Embrace the good experiences in life. And always keep in mind that everything is temporary.

26. People Change

Most of the time, we don’t give people second chances. We judge them by their actions or our assumptions. You’ll find yourself shunning people out or looking down on them. You should stop doing this.

The person you were ten years ago is not the person you are today. The same applies to other people. Don’t judge people. We all have a past. Some people have the best intention. And they want to change. Leave peoples’ past behind and avoid binging it up all the time. People need chances.

27. Family Is Not Always the Only Bond

This is one of the most important life lessons. If you stand up for what you believe in, you are going to lose some family members. You need to keep in mind that everyone has different beliefs, visions, and paths.

When you discover who you are, you’ll stop putting up with some things that you used to love or endure. Regardless of the number of people you lose, you need to stay true to your beliefs.

The right people will come into your life and they’ll become your new family. If your family rejects you for what you believe in, don’t fret. Let them go. One day, they’ll come back.

28. Don’t Hesitate When You Should Take Action

As the Roman saying goes, seize the day. In most instances, people fail to take action due to a lack of courage or confidence. This hesitation keeps them from taking a forward step.

By failing to take action, you’ll end up regretting or wishing you’d started earlier. When it’s time to take action, don’t hold back regardless of the outcome. Make up your mind and act because nothing significant ever happened by hesitation.

29. Always Keep Trying

Even when you have prepared yourself well, there’s a chance that you’ll not achieve your objective. Just like an athlete who prepares themselves for months for a single race only to fall in front of the finish line, you should never give up.

Keep on keeping on. And one day, the stars will be on your side. A good thing about life is not in never falling but in rising every time you fall. Making mistakes is part of life. To achieve your biggest goals, you have to learn from your mistakes and keep trying.

30. Flexibility With Your Goals Is Key

There will be times when you’ll take action and start using your plans only to find that you were wrong. You need to analyze where you are and what you can do to influence your future positively.

You’ll be forced to postpone or even change a specific goal to move forward. Being flexible and adapting to change is one of the best ways to win in life.

31. For Every Action, There Is a Reaction

Before you say something or take action, you should always think of the consequences. People might be unprepared for your message or fail to respond well to your gestures. That’s why you should always treat your words with caution.

Also, treat others the way you’d like to be treated. You can change your life for the better by keeping in mind that your actions always have consequences.

32. Live Your Life to the Fullest

Life goes faster than you think. Most adolescents and young adults tend to think that they’ll remain the same forever. However, years will pass quickly and you won’t be a young person.

You need to live your life to the fullest because it is short. And, you never know what tomorrow has in store for you. Every second wasted is a moment of your life wasted. Don’t let other people’s thinking control your life. This is one of the important life lessons to learn.

33. Don’t Take Anything for Granted

We often don’t appreciate what we have until it’s gone: that includes your health, your family and friends, your job, the money you have or think you will have tomorrow.

When you’re young, it seems that your parents will always be there, but they won’t. You think you have plenty of time to get back in touch with your old friends or spend time with new ones, but you don’t. You have the money to spend, or you think you’ll have it next month, but you might not.

Nothing in your life is not guaranteed to be there tomorrow, including those you love.

This is a hard life lesson to learn, but it may be the most important of all:

Life can change in an instant.

Make sure you appreciate what you have, while you still have it.

Final Thoughts

It doesn’t matter how old you are or where you are in life. Learning is the biggest lesson in life. And it’s essential for anyone who wants to succeed in life. You need to keep growing and evolving to live your life to the fullest.

Remember, it’s your life. And you know what’s best for you. Don’t allow other people to think for you. Walk your path with courage knowing that life is on your side. Which lesson will you adopt today to transform your life?

Featured photo credit: Ben Eaton via unsplash.com

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Eight brilliant student essays on what matters most in life.

Read winning essays from our spring 2019 student writing contest.

For the spring 2019 student writing contest, we invited students to read the YES! article “Three Things That Matter Most in Youth and Old Age” by Nancy Hill. Like the author, students interviewed someone significantly older than them about the three things that matter most in life. Students then wrote about what they learned, and about how their interviewees’ answers compare to their own top priorities.

The Winners

From the hundreds of essays written, these eight were chosen as winners. Be sure to read the author’s response to the essay winners and the literary gems that caught our eye. Plus, we share an essay from teacher Charles Sanderson, who also responded to the writing prompt.

Middle School Winner: Rory Leyva

High School Winner:  Praethong Klomsum

University Winner:  Emily Greenbaum

Powerful Voice Winner: Amanda Schwaben

Powerful Voice Winner: Antonia Mills

Powerful Voice Winner:  Isaac Ziemba

Powerful Voice Winner: Lily Hersch

“Tell It Like It Is” Interview Winner: Jonas Buckner

From the Author: Response to Student Winners

Literary Gems

From A Teacher: Charles Sanderson

From the Author: Response to Charles Sanderson

Middle School Winner

Village Home Education Resource Center, Portland, Ore.

The Lessons Of Mortality 

“As I’ve aged, things that are more personal to me have become somewhat less important. Perhaps I’ve become less self-centered with the awareness of mortality, how short one person’s life is.” This is how my 72-year-old grandma believes her values have changed over the course of her life. Even though I am only 12 years old, I know my life won’t last forever, and someday I, too, will reflect on my past decisions. We were all born to exist and eventually die, so we have evolved to value things in the context of mortality.

One of the ways I feel most alive is when I play roller derby. I started playing for the Rose City Rollers Juniors two years ago, and this year, I made the Rosebud All-Stars travel team. Roller derby is a fast-paced, full-contact sport. The physicality and intense training make me feel in control of and present in my body.

My roller derby team is like a second family to me. Adolescence is complicated. We understand each other in ways no one else can. I love my friends more than I love almost anything else. My family would have been higher on my list a few years ago, but as I’ve aged it has been important to make my own social connections.

Music led me to roller derby.  I started out jam skating at the roller rink. Jam skating is all about feeling the music. It integrates gymnastics, breakdancing, figure skating, and modern dance with R & B and hip hop music. When I was younger, I once lay down in the DJ booth at the roller rink and was lulled to sleep by the drawl of wheels rolling in rhythm and people talking about the things they came there to escape. Sometimes, I go up on the roof of my house at night to listen to music and feel the wind rustle my hair. These unique sensations make me feel safe like nothing else ever has.

My grandma tells me, “Being close with family and friends is the most important thing because I haven’t

always had that.” When my grandma was two years old, her father died. Her mother became depressed and moved around a lot, which made it hard for my grandma to make friends. Once my grandma went to college, she made lots of friends. She met my grandfather, Joaquin Leyva when she was working as a park ranger and he was a surfer. They bought two acres of land on the edge of a redwood forest and had a son and a daughter. My grandma created a stable family that was missing throughout her early life.

My grandma is motivated to maintain good health so she can be there for her family. I can relate because I have to be fit and strong for my team. Since she lost my grandfather to cancer, she realizes how lucky she is to have a functional body and no life-threatening illnesses. My grandma tries to eat well and exercise, but she still struggles with depression. Over time, she has learned that reaching out to others is essential to her emotional wellbeing.  

Caring for the earth is also a priority for my grandma I’ve been lucky to learn from my grandma. She’s taught me how to hunt for fossils in the desert and find shells on the beach. Although my grandma grew up with no access to the wilderness, she admired the green open areas of urban cemeteries. In college, she studied geology and hiked in the High Sierras. For years, she’s been an advocate for conserving wildlife habitat and open spaces.

Our priorities may seem different, but it all comes down to basic human needs. We all desire a purpose, strive to be happy, and need to be loved. Like Nancy Hill says in the YES! Magazine article “Three Things That Matter Most in Youth and Old Age,” it can be hard to decipher what is important in life. I believe that the constant search for satisfaction and meaning is the only thing everyone has in common. We all want to know what matters, and we walk around this confusing world trying to find it. The lessons I’ve learned from my grandma about forging connections, caring for my body, and getting out in the world inspire me to live my life my way before it’s gone.

Rory Leyva is a seventh-grader from Portland, Oregon. Rory skates for the Rosebuds All-Stars roller derby team. She loves listening to music and hanging out with her friends.

High School Winner

Praethong Klomsum

  Santa Monica High School, Santa Monica, Calif.

Time Only Moves Forward

Sandra Hernandez gazed at the tiny house while her mother’s gentle hands caressed her shoulders. It wasn’t much, especially for a family of five. This was 1960, she was 17, and her family had just moved to Culver City.

Flash forward to 2019. Sandra sits in a rocking chair, knitting a blanket for her latest grandchild, in the same living room. Sandra remembers working hard to feed her eight children. She took many different jobs before settling behind the cash register at a Japanese restaurant called Magos. “It was a struggle, and my husband Augustine, was planning to join the military at that time, too.”

In the YES! Magazine article “Three Things That Matter Most in Youth and Old Age,” author Nancy Hill states that one of the most important things is “…connecting with others in general, but in particular with those who have lived long lives.” Sandra feels similarly. It’s been hard for Sandra to keep in contact with her family, which leaves her downhearted some days. “It’s important to maintain that connection you have with your family, not just next-door neighbors you talk to once a month.”

Despite her age, Sandra is a daring woman. Taking risks is important to her, and she’ll try anything—from skydiving to hiking. Sandra has some regrets from the past, but nowadays, she doesn’t wonder about the “would have, could have, should haves.” She just goes for it with a smile.

Sandra thought harder about her last important thing, the blue and green blanket now finished and covering

her lap. “I’ve definitely lived a longer life than most, and maybe this is just wishful thinking, but I hope I can see the day my great-grandchildren are born.” She’s laughing, but her eyes look beyond what’s in front of her. Maybe she is reminiscing about the day she held her son for the first time or thinking of her grandchildren becoming parents. I thank her for her time and she waves it off, offering me a styrofoam cup of lemonade before I head for the bus station.

The bus is sparsely filled. A voice in my head reminds me to finish my 10-page history research paper before spring break. I take a window seat and pull out my phone and earbuds. My playlist is already on shuffle, and I push away thoughts of that dreaded paper. Music has been a constant in my life—from singing my lungs out in kindergarten to Barbie’s “I Need To Know,” to jamming out to Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” in sixth grade, to BTS’s “Intro: Never Mind” comforting me when I’m at my lowest. Music is my magic shop, a place where I can trade away my fears for calm.

I’ve always been afraid of doing something wrong—not finishing my homework or getting a C when I can do better. When I was 8, I wanted to be like the big kids. As I got older, I realized that I had exchanged my childhood longing for the 48 pack of crayons for bigger problems, balancing grades, a social life, and mental stability—all at once. I’m going to get older whether I like it or not, so there’s no point forcing myself to grow up faster.  I’m learning to live in the moment.

The bus is approaching my apartment, where I know my comfy bed and a home-cooked meal from my mom are waiting. My mom is hard-working, confident, and very stubborn. I admire her strength of character. She always keeps me in line, even through my rebellious phases.

My best friend sends me a text—an update on how broken her laptop is. She is annoying. She says the stupidest things and loves to state the obvious. Despite this, she never fails to make me laugh until my cheeks feel numb. The rest of my friends are like that too—loud, talkative, and always brightening my day. Even friends I stopped talking to have a place in my heart. Recently, I’ve tried to reconnect with some of them. This interview was possible because a close friend from sixth grade offered to introduce me to Sandra, her grandmother.  

I’m decades younger than Sandra, so my view of what’s important isn’t as broad as hers, but we share similar values, with friends and family at the top. I have a feeling that when Sandra was my age, she used to love music, too. Maybe in a few decades, when I’m sitting in my rocking chair, drawing in my sketchbook, I’ll remember this article and think back fondly to the days when life was simple.

Praethong Klomsum is a tenth-grader at Santa Monica High School in Santa Monica, California.  Praethong has a strange affinity for rhyme games and is involved in her school’s dance team. She enjoys drawing and writing, hoping to impact people willing to listen to her thoughts and ideas.

University Winner

Emily Greenbaum

Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 

The Life-Long War

Every morning we open our eyes, ready for a new day. Some immediately turn to their phones and social media. Others work out or do yoga. For a certain person, a deep breath and the morning sun ground him. He hears the clink-clank of his wife cooking low sodium meat for breakfast—doctor’s orders! He sees that the other side of the bed is already made, the dogs are no longer in the room, and his clothes are set out nicely on the loveseat.

Today, though, this man wakes up to something different: faded cream walls and jello. This person, my hero, is Master Chief Petty Officer Roger James.

I pulled up my chair close to Roger’s vinyl recliner so I could hear him above the noise of the beeping dialysis machine. I noticed Roger would occasionally glance at his wife Susan with sparkly eyes when he would recall memories of the war or their grandkids. He looked at Susan like she walked on water.

Roger James served his country for thirty years. Now, he has enlisted in another type of war. He suffers from a rare blood cancer—the result of the wars he fought in. Roger has good and bad days. He says, “The good outweighs the bad, so I have to be grateful for what I have on those good days.”

When Roger retired, he never thought the effects of the war would reach him. The once shallow wrinkles upon his face become deeper, as he tells me, “It’s just cancer. Others are suffering from far worse. I know I’ll make it.”

Like Nancy Hill did in her article “Three Things that Matter Most in Youth and Old Age,” I asked Roger, “What are the three most important things to you?” James answered, “My wife Susan, my grandkids, and church.”

Roger and Susan served together in the Vietnam war. She was a nurse who treated his cuts and scrapes one day. I asked Roger why he chose Susan. He said, “Susan told me to look at her while she cleaned me up. ‘This may sting, but don’t be a baby.’ When I looked into her eyes, I felt like she was looking into my soul, and I didn’t want her to leave. She gave me this sense of home. Every day I wake up, she makes me feel the same way, and I fall in love with her all over again.”

Roger and Susan have two kids and four grandkids, with great-grandchildren on the way. He claims that his grandkids give him the youth that he feels slowly escaping from his body. This adoring grandfather is energized by coaching t-ball and playing evening card games with the grandkids.

The last thing on his list was church. His oldest daughter married a pastor. Together they founded a church. Roger said that the connection between his faith and family is important to him because it gave him a reason to want to live again. I learned from Roger that when you’re across the ocean, you tend to lose sight of why you are fighting. When Roger returned, he didn’t have the will to live. Most days were a struggle, adapting back into a society that lacked empathy for the injuries, pain, and psychological trauma carried by returning soldiers. Church changed that for Roger and gave him a sense of purpose.

When I began this project, my attitude was to just get the assignment done. I never thought I could view Master Chief Petty Officer Roger James as more than a role model, but he definitely changed my mind. It’s as if Roger magically lit a fire inside of me and showed me where one’s true passions should lie. I see our similarities and embrace our differences. We both value family and our own connections to home—his home being church and mine being where I can breathe the easiest.

Master Chief Petty Officer Roger James has shown me how to appreciate what I have around me and that every once in a while, I should step back and stop to smell the roses. As we concluded the interview, amidst squeaky clogs and the stale smell of bleach and bedpans, I looked to Roger, his kind, tired eyes, and weathered skin, with a deeper sense of admiration, knowing that his values still run true, no matter what he faces.

Emily Greenbaum is a senior at Kent State University, graduating with a major in Conflict Management and minor in Geography. Emily hopes to use her major to facilitate better conversations, while she works in the Washington, D.C. area.  

Powerful Voice Winner

Amanda Schwaben

Wise Words From Winnie the Pooh

As I read through Nancy Hill’s article “Three Things That Matter Most in Youth and Old Age,” I was comforted by the similar responses given by both children and older adults. The emphasis participants placed on family, social connections, and love was not only heartwarming but hopeful. While the messages in the article filled me with warmth, I felt a twinge of guilt building within me. As a twenty-one-year-old college student weeks from graduation, I honestly don’t think much about the most important things in life. But if I was asked, I would most likely say family, friendship, and love. As much as I hate to admit it, I often find myself obsessing over achieving a successful career and finding a way to “save the world.”

A few weeks ago, I was at my family home watching the new Winnie the Pooh movie Christopher Robin with my mom and younger sister. Well, I wasn’t really watching. I had my laptop in front of me, and I was aggressively typing up an assignment. Halfway through the movie, I realized I left my laptop charger in my car. I walked outside into the brisk March air. Instinctively, I looked up. The sky was perfectly clear, revealing a beautiful array of stars. When my twin sister and I were in high school, we would always take a moment to look up at the sparkling night sky before we came into the house after soccer practice.

I think that was the last time I stood in my driveway and gazed at the stars. I did not get the laptop charger from

my car; instead, I turned around and went back inside. I shut my laptop and watched the rest of the movie. My twin sister loves Winnie the Pooh. So much so that my parents got her a stuffed animal version of him for Christmas. While I thought he was adorable and a token of my childhood, I did not really understand her obsession. However, it was clear to me after watching the movie. Winnie the Pooh certainly had it figured out. He believed that the simple things in life were the most important: love, friendship, and having fun.

I thought about asking my mom right then what the three most important things were to her, but I decided not to. I just wanted to be in the moment. I didn’t want to be doing homework. It was a beautiful thing to just sit there and be present with my mom and sister.

I did ask her, though, a couple of weeks later. Her response was simple.  All she said was family, health, and happiness. When she told me this, I imagined Winnie the Pooh smiling. I think he would be proud of that answer.

I was not surprised by my mom’s reply. It suited her perfectly. I wonder if we relearn what is most important when we grow older—that the pressure to be successful subsides. Could it be that valuing family, health, and happiness is what ends up saving the world?

Amanda Schwaben is a graduating senior from Kent State University with a major in Applied Conflict Management. Amanda also has minors in Psychology and Interpersonal Communication. She hopes to further her education and focus on how museums not only preserve history but also promote peace.

Antonia Mills

Rachel Carson High School, Brooklyn, N.Y. 

Decoding The Butterfly

For a caterpillar to become a butterfly, it must first digest itself. The caterpillar, overwhelmed by accumulating tissue, splits its skin open to form its protective shell, the chrysalis, and later becomes the pretty butterfly we all know and love. There are approximately 20,000 species of butterflies, and just as every species is different, so is the life of every butterfly. No matter how long and hard a caterpillar has strived to become the colorful and vibrant butterfly that we marvel at on a warm spring day, it does not live a long life. A butterfly can live for a year, six months, two weeks, and even as little as twenty-four hours.

I have often wondered if butterflies live long enough to be blissful of blue skies. Do they take time to feast upon the sweet nectar they crave, midst their hustling life of pollinating pretty flowers? Do they ever take a lull in their itineraries, or are they always rushing towards completing their four-stage metamorphosis? Has anyone asked the butterfly, “Who are you?” instead of “What are you”? Or, How did you get here, on my windowsill?  How did you become ‘you’?

Humans are similar to butterflies. As a caterpillar

Suzanna Ruby/Getty Images

becomes a butterfly, a baby becomes an elder. As a butterfly soars through summer skies, an elder watches summer skies turn into cold winter nights and back toward summer skies yet again.  And as a butterfly flits slowly by the porch light, a passerby makes assumptions about the wrinkled, slow-moving elder, who is sturdier than he appears. These creatures are not seen for who they are—who they were—because people have “better things to do” or they are too busy to ask, “How are you”?

Our world can be a lonely place. Pressured by expectations, haunted by dreams, overpowered by weakness, and drowned out by lofty goals, we tend to forget ourselves—and others. Rather than hang onto the strands of our diminishing sanity, we might benefit from listening to our elders. Many elders have experienced setbacks in their young lives. Overcoming hardship and surviving to old age is wisdom that they carry.  We can learn from them—and can even make their day by taking the time to hear their stories.  

Nancy Hill, who wrote the YES! Magazine article “Three Things That Matter Most in Youth and Old Age,” was right: “We live among such remarkable people, yet few know their stories.” I know a lot about my grandmother’s life, and it isn’t as serene as my own. My grandmother, Liza, who cooks every day, bakes bread on holidays for our neighbors, brings gifts to her doctor out of the kindness of her heart, and makes conversation with neighbors even though she is isn’t fluent in English—Russian is her first language—has struggled all her life. Her mother, Anna, a single parent, had tuberculosis, and even though she had an inviolable spirit, she was too frail to care for four children. She passed away when my grandmother was sixteen, so my grandmother and her siblings spent most of their childhood in an orphanage. My grandmother got married at nineteen to my grandfather, Pinhas. He was a man who loved her more than he loved himself and was a godsend to every person he met. Liza was—and still is—always quick to do what was best for others, even if that person treated her poorly. My grandmother has lived with physical pain all her life, yet she pushed herself to climb heights that she wasn’t ready for. Against all odds, she has lived to tell her story to people who are willing to listen. And I always am.

I asked my grandmother, “What are three things most important to you?” Her answer was one that I already expected: One, for everyone to live long healthy lives. Two, for you to graduate from college. Three, for you to always remember that I love you.

What may be basic to you means the world to my grandmother. She just wants what she never had the chance to experience: a healthy life, an education, and the chance to express love to the people she values. The three things that matter most to her may be so simple and ordinary to outsiders, but to her, it is so much more. And who could take that away?

Antonia Mills was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York and attends Rachel Carson High School.  Antonia enjoys creative activities, including writing, painting, reading, and baking. She hopes to pursue culinary arts professionally in the future. One of her favorite quotes is, “When you start seeing your worth, you’ll find it harder to stay around people who don’t.” -Emily S.P.  

  Powerful Voice Winner

   Isaac Ziemba

Odyssey Multiage Program, Bainbridge Island, Wash. 

This Former State Trooper Has His Priorities Straight: Family, Climate Change, and Integrity

I have a personal connection to people who served in the military and first responders. My uncle is a first responder on the island I live on, and my dad retired from the Navy. That was what made a man named Glen Tyrell, a state trooper for 25 years, 2 months and 9 days, my first choice to interview about what three things matter in life. In the YES! Magazine article “The Three Things That Matter Most in Youth and Old Age,” I learned that old and young people have a great deal in common. I know that’s true because Glen and I care about a lot of the same things.

For Glen, family is at the top of his list of important things. “My wife was, and is, always there for me. My daughters mean the world to me, too, but Penny is my partner,” Glen said. I can understand why Glen’s wife is so important to him. She’s family. Family will always be there for you.

Glen loves his family, and so do I with all my heart. My dad especially means the world to me. He is my top supporter and tells me that if I need help, just “say the word.” When we are fishing or crabbing, sometimes I

think, what if these times were erased from my memory? I wouldn’t be able to describe the horrible feeling that would rush through my mind, and I’m sure that Glen would feel the same about his wife.

My uncle once told me that the world is always going to change over time. It’s what the world has turned out to be that worries me. Both Glen and I are extremely concerned about climate change and the effect that rising temperatures have on animals and their habitats. We’re driving them to extinction. Some people might say, “So what? Animals don’t pay taxes or do any of the things we do.” What we are doing to them is like the Black Death times 100.

Glen is also frustrated by how much plastic we use and where it ends up. He would be shocked that an explorer recently dived to the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean—seven miles!— and discovered a plastic bag and candy wrappers. Glen told me that, unfortunately, his generation did the damage and my generation is here to fix it. We need to take better care of Earth because if we don’t, we, as a species, will have failed.

Both Glen and I care deeply for our families and the earth, but for our third important value, I chose education and Glen chose integrity. My education is super important to me because without it, I would be a blank slate. I wouldn’t know how to figure out problems. I wouldn’t be able to tell right from wrong. I wouldn’t understand the Bill of Rights. I would be stuck. Everyone should be able to go to school, no matter where they’re from or who they are.  It makes me angry and sad to think that some people, especially girls, get shot because they are trying to go to school. I understand how lucky I am.

Integrity is sacred to Glen—I could tell by the serious tone of Glen’s voice when he told me that integrity was the code he lived by as a former state trooper. He knew that he had the power to change a person’s life, and he was committed to not abusing that power.  When Glen put someone under arrest—and my uncle says the same—his judgment and integrity were paramount. “Either you’re right or you’re wrong.” You can’t judge a person by what you think, you can only judge a person from what you know.”

I learned many things about Glen and what’s important in life, but there is one thing that stands out—something Glen always does and does well. Glen helps people. He did it as a state trooper, and he does it in our school, where he works on construction projects. Glen told me that he believes that our most powerful tools are writing and listening to others. I think those tools are important, too, but I also believe there are other tools to help solve many of our problems and create a better future: to be compassionate, to create caring relationships, and to help others. Just like Glen Tyrell does each and every day.

Isaac Ziemba is in seventh grade at the Odyssey Multiage Program on a small island called Bainbridge near Seattle, Washington. Isaac’s favorite subject in school is history because he has always been interested in how the past affects the future. In his spare time, you can find Isaac hunting for crab with his Dad, looking for artifacts around his house with his metal detector, and having fun with his younger cousin, Conner.     

Lily Hersch

 The Crest Academy, Salida, Colo.

The Phone Call

Dear Grandpa,

In my short span of life—12 years so far—you’ve taught me a lot of important life lessons that I’ll always have with me. Some of the values I talk about in this writing I’ve learned from you.

Dedicated to my Gramps.

In the YES! Magazine article “Three Things That Matter Most in Youth and Old Age,” author and photographer Nancy Hill asked people to name the three things that mattered most to them. After reading the essay prompt for the article, I immediately knew who I wanted to interview: my grandpa Gil.      

My grandpa was born on January 25, 1942. He lived in a minuscule tenement in The Bronx with his mother,

father, and brother. His father wasn’t around much, and, when he was, he was reticent and would snap occasionally, revealing his constrained mental pain. My grandpa says this happened because my great grandfather did not have a father figure in his life. His mother was a classy, sharp lady who was the head secretary at a local police district station. My grandpa and his brother Larry did not care for each other. Gramps said he was very close to his mother, and Larry wasn’t. Perhaps Larry was envious for what he didn’t have.

Decades after little to no communication with his brother, my grandpa decided to spontaneously visit him in Florida, where he resided with his wife. Larry was taken aback at the sudden reappearance of his brother and told him to leave. Since then, the two brothers have not been in contact. My grandpa doesn’t even know if Larry is alive.         

My grandpa is now a retired lawyer, married to my wonderful grandma, and living in a pretty house with an ugly dog named BoBo.

So, what’s important to you, Gramps?

He paused a second, then replied, “Family, kindness, and empathy.”

“Family, because it’s my family. It’s important to stay connected with your family. My brother, father, and I never connected in the way I wished, and sometimes I contemplated what could’ve happened.  But you can’t change the past. So, that’s why family’s important to me.”

Family will always be on my “Top Three Most Important Things” list, too. I can’t imagine not having my older brother, Zeke, or my grandma in my life. I wonder how other kids feel about their families? How do kids trapped and separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border feel?  What about orphans? Too many questions, too few answers.

“Kindness, because growing up and not seeing a lot of kindness made me realize how important it is to have that in the world. Kindness makes the world go round.”

What is kindness? Helping my brother, Eli, who has Down syndrome, get ready in the morning? Telling people what they need to hear, rather than what they want to hear? Maybe, for now, I’ll put wisdom, not kindness, on my list.

“Empathy, because of all the killings and shootings [in this country.] We also need to care for people—people who are not living in as good circumstances as I have. Donald Trump and other people I’ve met have no empathy. Empathy is very important.”

Empathy is something I’ve felt my whole life. It’ll always be important to me like it is important to my grandpa. My grandpa shows his empathy when he works with disabled children. Once he took a disabled child to a Christina Aguilera concert because that child was too young to go by himself. The moments I feel the most empathy are when Eli gets those looks from people. Seeing Eli wonder why people stare at him like he’s a freak makes me sad, and annoyed that they have the audacity to stare.

After this 2 minute and 36-second phone call, my grandpa has helped me define what’s most important to me at this time in my life: family, wisdom, and empathy. Although these things are important now, I realize they can change and most likely will.

When I’m an old woman, I envision myself scrambling through a stack of storage boxes and finding this paper. Perhaps after reading words from my 12-year-old self, I’ll ask myself “What’s important to me?”

Lily Hersch is a sixth-grader at Crest Academy in Salida, Colorado. Lily is an avid indoorsman, finding joy in competitive spelling, art, and of course, writing. She does not like Swiss cheese.

  “Tell It Like It Is” Interview Winner

Jonas Buckner

KIPP: Gaston College Preparatory, Gaston, N.C.

Lessons My Nana Taught Me

I walked into the house. In the other room, I heard my cousin screaming at his game. There were a lot of Pioneer Woman dishes everywhere. The room had the television on max volume. The fan in the other room was on. I didn’t know it yet, but I was about to learn something powerful.

I was in my Nana’s house, and when I walked in, she said, “Hey Monkey Butt.”

I said, “Hey Nana.”

Before the interview, I was talking to her about what I was gonna interview her on. Also, I had asked her why I might have wanted to interview her, and she responded with, “Because you love me, and I love you too.”

Now, it was time to start the interview. The first

question I asked was the main and most important question ever: “What three things matter most to you and you only?”

She thought of it very thoughtfully and responded with, “My grandchildren, my children, and my health.”

Then, I said, “OK, can you please tell me more about your health?”

She responded with, “My health is bad right now. I have heart problems, blood sugar, and that’s about it.” When she said it, she looked at me and smiled because she loved me and was happy I chose her to interview.

I replied with, “K um, why is it important to you?”

She smiled and said, “Why is it…Why is my health important? Well, because I want to live a long time and see my grandchildren grow up.”

I was scared when she said that, but she still smiled. I was so happy, and then I said, “Has your health always been important to you.”

She responded with “Nah.”

Then, I asked, “Do you happen to have a story to help me understand your reasoning?”

She said, “No, not really.”

Now we were getting into the next set of questions. I said, “Remember how you said that your grandchildren matter to you? Can you please tell me why they matter to you?”

Then, she responded with, “So I can spend time with them, play with them, and everything.”

Next, I asked the same question I did before: “Have you always loved your grandchildren?” 

She responded with, “Yes, they have always been important to me.”

Then, the next two questions I asked she had no response to at all. She was very happy until I asked, “Why do your children matter most to you?”

She had a frown on and responded, “My daughter Tammy died a long time ago.”

Then, at this point, the other questions were answered the same as the other ones. When I left to go home I was thinking about how her answers were similar to mine. She said health, and I care about my health a lot, and I didn’t say, but I wanted to. She also didn’t have answers for the last two questions on each thing, and I was like that too.

The lesson I learned was that no matter what, always keep pushing because even though my aunt or my Nana’s daughter died, she kept on pushing and loving everyone. I also learned that everything should matter to us. Once again, I chose to interview my Nana because she matters to me, and I know when she was younger she had a lot of things happen to her, so I wanted to know what she would say. The point I’m trying to make is that be grateful for what you have and what you have done in life.

Jonas Buckner is a sixth-grader at KIPP: Gaston College Preparatory in Gaston, North Carolina. Jonas’ favorite activities are drawing, writing, math, piano, and playing AltSpace VR. He found his passion for writing in fourth grade when he wrote a quick autobiography. Jonas hopes to become a horror writer someday.

From The Author: Responses to Student Winners

Dear Emily, Isaac, Antonia, Rory, Praethong, Amanda, Lily, and Jonas,

Your thought-provoking essays sent my head spinning. The more I read, the more impressed I was with the depth of thought, beauty of expression, and originality. It left me wondering just how to capture all of my reactions in a single letter. After multiple false starts, I’ve landed on this: I will stick to the theme of three most important things.

The three things I found most inspirational about your essays:

You listened.

You connected.

We live in troubled times. Tensions mount between countries, cultures, genders, religious beliefs, and generations. If we fail to find a way to understand each other, to see similarities between us, the future will be fraught with increased hostility.

You all took critical steps toward connecting with someone who might not value the same things you do by asking a person who is generations older than you what matters to them. Then, you listened to their answers. You saw connections between what is important to them and what is important to you. Many of you noted similarities, others wondered if your own list of the three most important things would change as you go through life. You all saw the validity of the responses you received and looked for reasons why your interviewees have come to value what they have.

It is through these things—asking, listening, and connecting—that we can begin to bridge the differences in experiences and beliefs that are currently dividing us.

Individual observations

Each one of you made observations that all of us, regardless of age or experience, would do well to keep in mind. I chose one quote from each person and trust those reading your essays will discover more valuable insights.

“Our priorities may seem different, but they come back to basic human needs. We all desire a purpose, strive to be happy, and work to make a positive impact.” 

“You can’t judge a person by what you think , you can only judge a person by what you know .”

Emily (referencing your interviewee, who is battling cancer):

“Master Chief Petty Officer James has shown me how to appreciate what I have around me.”

Lily (quoting your grandfather):

“Kindness makes the world go round.”

“Everything should matter to us.”

Praethong (quoting your interviewee, Sandra, on the importance of family):

“It’s important to always maintain that connection you have with each other, your family, not just next-door neighbors you talk to once a month.”

“I wonder if maybe we relearn what is most important when we grow older. That the pressure to be successful subsides and that valuing family, health, and happiness is what ends up saving the world.”

“Listen to what others have to say. Listen to the people who have already experienced hardship. You will learn from them and you can even make their day by giving them a chance to voice their thoughts.”

I end this letter to you with the hope that you never stop asking others what is most important to them and that you to continue to take time to reflect on what matters most to you…and why. May you never stop asking, listening, and connecting with others, especially those who may seem to be unlike you. Keep writing, and keep sharing your thoughts and observations with others, for your ideas are awe-inspiring.

I also want to thank the more than 1,000 students who submitted essays. Together, by sharing what’s important to us with others, especially those who may believe or act differently, we can fill the world with joy, peace, beauty, and love.

We received many outstanding essays for the Winter 2019 Student Writing Competition. Though not every participant can win the contest, we’d like to share some excerpts that caught our eye:

Whether it is a painting on a milky canvas with watercolors or pasting photos onto a scrapbook with her granddaughters, it is always a piece of artwork to her. She values the things in life that keep her in the moment, while still exploring things she may not have initially thought would bring her joy.

—Ondine Grant-Krasno, Immaculate Heart Middle School, Los Angeles, Calif.

“Ganas”… It means “desire” in Spanish. My ganas is fueled by my family’s belief in me. I cannot and will not fail them. 

—Adan Rios, Lane Community College, Eugene, Ore.

I hope when I grow up I can have the love for my kids like my grandma has for her kids. She makes being a mother even more of a beautiful thing than it already is.

—Ashley Shaw, Columbus City Prep School for Girls, Grove City, Ohio

You become a collage of little pieces of your friends and family. They also encourage you to be the best you can be. They lift you up onto the seat of your bike, they give you the first push, and they don’t hesitate to remind you that everything will be alright when you fall off and scrape your knee.

— Cecilia Stanton, Bellafonte Area Middle School, Bellafonte, Pa.

Without good friends, I wouldn’t know what I would do to endure the brutal machine of public education.

—Kenneth Jenkins, Garrison Middle School, Walla Walla, Wash.

My dog, as ridiculous as it may seem, is a beautiful example of what we all should aspire to be. We should live in the moment, not stress, and make it our goal to lift someone’s spirits, even just a little.

—Kate Garland, Immaculate Heart Middle School, Los Angeles, Calif. 

I strongly hope that every child can spare more time to accompany their elderly parents when they are struggling, and moving forward, and give them more care and patience. so as to truly achieve the goal of “you accompany me to grow up, and I will accompany you to grow old.”

—Taiyi Li, Lane Community College, Eugene, Ore.

I have three cats, and they are my brothers and sisters. We share a special bond that I think would not be possible if they were human. Since they do not speak English, we have to find other ways to connect, and I think that those other ways can be more powerful than language.

—Maya Dombroskie, Delta Program Middle School, Boulsburg, Pa.

We are made to love and be loved. To have joy and be relational. As a member of the loneliest generation in possibly all of history, I feel keenly aware of the need for relationships and authentic connection. That is why I decided to talk to my grandmother.

—Luke Steinkamp, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio

After interviewing my grandma and writing my paper, I realized that as we grow older, the things that are important to us don’t change, what changes is why those things are important to us.

—Emily Giffer, Our Lady Star of the Sea, Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.

The media works to marginalize elders, often isolating them and their stories, and the wealth of knowledge that comes with their additional years of lived experiences. It also undermines the depth of children’s curiosity and capacity to learn and understand. When the worlds of elders and children collide, a classroom opens.

—Cristina Reitano, City College of San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif.

My values, although similar to my dad, only looked the same in the sense that a shadow is similar to the object it was cast on.

—Timofey Lisenskiy, Santa Monica High School, Santa Monica, Calif.

I can release my anger through writing without having to take it out on someone. I can escape and be a different person; it feels good not to be myself for a while. I can make up my own characters, so I can be someone different every day, and I think that’s pretty cool.

—Jasua Carillo, Wellness, Business, and Sports School, Woodburn, Ore. 

Notice how all the important things in his life are people: the people who he loves and who love him back. This is because “people are more important than things like money or possessions, and families are treasures,” says grandpa Pat. And I couldn’t agree more.

—Brody Hartley, Garrison Middle School, Walla Walla, Wash.  

Curiosity for other people’s stories could be what is needed to save the world.

—Noah Smith, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio

Peace to me is a calm lake without a ripple in sight. It’s a starry night with a gentle breeze that pillows upon your face. It’s the absence of arguments, fighting, or war. It’s when egos stop working against each other and finally begin working with each other. Peace is free from fear, anxiety, and depression. To me, peace is an important ingredient in the recipe of life.

—JP Bogan, Lane Community College, Eugene, Ore.

From A Teacher

Charles Sanderson

Wellness, Business and Sports School, Woodburn, Ore. 

The Birthday Gift

I’ve known Jodelle for years, watching her grow from a quiet and timid twelve-year-old to a young woman who just returned from India, where she played Kabaddi, a kind of rugby meets Red Rover.

One of my core beliefs as an educator is to show up for the things that matter to kids, so I go to their games, watch their plays, and eat the strawberry jam they make for the county fair. On this occasion, I met Jodelle at a robotics competition to watch her little sister Abby compete. Think Nerd Paradise: more hats made from traffic cones than Golden State Warrior ball caps, more unicorn capes than Nike swooshes, more fanny packs with Legos than clutches with eyeliner.

We started chatting as the crowd chanted and waved six-foot flags for teams like Mystic Biscuits, Shrek, and everyone’s nemesis The Mean Machine. Apparently, when it’s time for lunch at a robotics competition, they don’t mess around. The once-packed gym was left to Jodelle and me, and we kept talking and talking. I eventually asked her about the three things that matter to her most.

She told me about her mom, her sister, and her addiction—to horses. I’ve read enough of her writing to know that horses were her drug of choice and her mom and sister were her support network.

I learned about her desire to become a teacher and how hours at the barn with her horse, Heart, recharge her when she’s exhausted. At one point, our rambling conversation turned to a topic I’ve known far too well—her father.

Later that evening, I received an email from Jodelle, and she had a lot to say. One line really struck me: “In so many movies, I have seen a dad wanting to protect his daughter from the world, but I’ve only understood the scene cognitively. Yesterday, I felt it.”

Long ago, I decided that I would never be a dad. I had seen movies with fathers and daughters, and for me, those movies might as well have been Star Wars, ET, or Alien—worlds filled with creatures I’d never know. However, over the years, I’ve attended Jodelle’s parent-teacher conferences, gone to her graduation, and driven hours to watch her ride Heart at horse shows. Simply, I showed up. I listened. I supported.

Jodelle shared a series of dad poems, as well. I had read the first two poems in their original form when Jodelle was my student. The revised versions revealed new graphic details of her past. The third poem, however, was something entirely different.

She called the poems my early birthday present. When I read the lines “You are my father figure/Who I look up to/Without being looked down on,” I froze for an instant and had to reread the lines. After fifty years of consciously deciding not to be a dad, I was seen as one—and it felt incredible. Jodelle’s poem and recognition were two of the best presents I’ve ever received.

I  know that I was the language arts teacher that Jodelle needed at the time, but her poem revealed things I never knew I taught her: “My father figure/ Who taught me/ That listening is for observing the world/ That listening is for learning/Not obeying/Writing is for connecting/Healing with others.”

Teaching is often a thankless job, one that frequently brings more stress and anxiety than joy and hope. Stress erodes my patience. Anxiety curtails my ability to enter each interaction with every student with the grace they deserve. However, my time with Jodelle reminds me of the importance of leaning in and listening.

In the article “Three Things That Matter Most in Youth and Old Age” by Nancy Hill, she illuminates how we “live among such remarkable people, yet few know their stories.” For the last twenty years, I’ve had the privilege to work with countless of these “remarkable people,” and I’ve done my best to listen, and, in so doing, I hope my students will realize what I’ve known for a long time; their voices matter and deserve to be heard, but the voices of their tias and abuelitos and babushkas are equally important. When we take the time to listen, I believe we do more than affirm the humanity of others; we affirm our own as well.

Charles Sanderson has grounded his nineteen-year teaching career in a philosophy he describes as “Mirror, Window, Bridge.” Charles seeks to ensure all students see themselves, see others, and begin to learn the skills to build bridges of empathy, affinity, and understanding between communities and cultures that may seem vastly different. He proudly teaches at the Wellness, Business and Sports School in Woodburn, Oregon, a school and community that brings him joy and hope on a daily basis.

From   The Author: Response to Charles Sanderson

Dear Charles Sanderson,

Thank you for submitting an essay of your own in addition to encouraging your students to participate in YES! Magazine’s essay contest.

Your essay focused not on what is important to you, but rather on what is important to one of your students. You took what mattered to her to heart, acting upon it by going beyond the school day and creating a connection that has helped fill a huge gap in her life. Your efforts will affect her far beyond her years in school. It is clear that your involvement with this student is far from the only time you have gone beyond the classroom, and while you are not seeking personal acknowledgment, I cannot help but applaud you.

In an ideal world, every teacher, every adult, would show the same interest in our children and adolescents that you do. By taking the time to listen to what is important to our youth, we can help them grow into compassionate, caring adults, capable of making our world a better place.

Your concerted efforts to guide our youth to success not only as students but also as human beings is commendable. May others be inspired by your insights, concerns, and actions. You define excellence in teaching.

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Essay Samples on Life Lesson

The most important lesson i learned in life: embracing resilience.

The journey of life is an intricate tapestry woven with threads of experiences, each contributing to the canvas of our growth and wisdom. Among these experiences, one lesson stands out as the most profound: the art of embracing resilience. In the mosaic of life, resilience...

• Life Lesson

Life Experiences That Taught a Lesson: How Experience Contributes to Our Growth

Life is a journey filled with countless experiences that shape who we are and how we navigate the world around us. Some of these experiences are simple and joyful, while others are challenging and transformative. This essay explores several life experiences that have taught valuable...

A Life Lesson I Have Learned and How It Continues to Shape Me

Life is a continuous journey of learning, filled with moments that impart wisdom and shape our perspectives. Some lessons are gentle whispers, while others are profound experiences that leave an everlasting imprint. In this narrative essay, I will share a significant life lesson that I...

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Rising Above Negativity: A Journey in Music and Self-Belief

My Early Music Career Let me inform you about a time when I realized a life lesson. A couple of weeks ago, I started out producing music; I was once just starting as a producer, and I had no prior expertise in song theory. I...

Traveling Through Life: Learning, Evolving, and Reflecting

Life Lessons Learned on a Journey What is a journey. A journey is an act of traveling from one place to another and the time in between that act. We took a look at many texts relating to people going on a journey such as...

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"Made In Heaven": An Analysis of Relationships and Life Lessons

Introduction The web series "Made In Heaven" on Amazon Prime has captivated the attention of the younger Indian audience. Created by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, the series has received both acclaim and criticism for its explicit depiction of sex, abusive dialogues, and portrayal of...

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1. The Most Important Lesson I Learned in Life: Embracing Resilience

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3. A Life Lesson I Have Learned and How It Continues to Shape Me

4. Rising Above Negativity: A Journey in Music and Self-Belief

5. Traveling Through Life: Learning, Evolving, and Reflecting

6. “Made In Heaven”: An Analysis of Relationships and Life Lessons

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• Jun 16, 2020

The Greatest Lessons I’ve Learned in Life…So Far

I don’t know everything or have all the answers, no one does. But one thing I do know, is that when I started to look at my life as a series of learning experiences, I was able to view the world from a clear, more positive perspective. Every day of my life I learn something new. I am observant on purpose . Some of the things that I learn really cause me to ponder...

During these 50 years of my life I have come to realize that many things I've been through were lessons I needed to learn in order to grow. These times in my life have contributed to the person that I am today, and honestly, I like who I have become. It has taken me a long time to realize that these things have helped to shape my life... in a positive way... even though some of the things I went through didn't seem so positive at the time.

These lessons I've learned over the years may seem like no-brainers to some people, and that's okay because we are all living our lives the best way we know how. Everyone has their list of life lessons that are a direct result of the situations and circumstances that have shaped who they've become. I know this is true for me.

Some of the Lessons I’ve Learned in Life

1. A good laugh or cry always makes you feel better.

I don’t know why it is, but letting go of emotions always makes me feel a sense of relief. There is nothing better than laughing out loud with friends or family, even if it is laughing at the most ridiculous things.

On the other hand, a good cry through whatever adverse situation you are going through also releases the built up emotions that have been bottled up inside. I always feel a sense of calm after facing situations and dealing with the emotions, good or bad, that go with them.

2. We are all going to fail at some point. Don't miss the lesson the failure is meant to teach you.

It’s inevitable, we all fail sometimes. What is important about the failure is how you deal with it. It takes a while to learn to take a step back from a failure and ask yourself: “What am I supposed to learn from this?”

Maybe the answer is as simple as learning to pick yourself up and start over. Maybe it's an opportunity to give you a reason to try harder. Whatever the lesson may be, it is there to help shape us and mold us into the person we are meant to be. When you view failure as a positive experience, you will decrease the negative feelings that failure can bring.

3. Not everyone will like you, and that's OK!

This was a hard lesson for me to learn because I have always looked at myself as a “likable” person. I always try to be friendly and welcoming, but that doesn't always equate to being liked. It’s hard to accept that there are just some people who do not like me, for whatever reason.

As I get older, I realize that whoever these people are, they have their reasons for the way they feel and they are free to feel that way. As long as I know that I do my best keep my integrity and treat others respectfully, they cannot affect who I am if I do not let them.

4. YOU are accountable for your actions and choices…and NO ONE else!

I have been trying to instill this fact in my children since they were old enough to understand. A lot of people are very quick to blame others for their misfortunes, bad choices, and situations when in reality, they need to take a good look in the mirror. For some people, it is always someone else’s fault.

The truth is, each of us is responsible for ourselves and need to accept the outcome of our actions and choices. Accountability for your own actions is an important part of maturity and understanding that each choice you make has a consequence is something you can never forget.

5. It’s best to take a deep breath and pause before you show your anger.

This has been a struggle for me. Sometimes I can be quick tempered and it is something I work on every day. I think that I have gotten better as I get older. Honestly, I know from experience that it is always best to take a step back and collect yourself and your thoughts before lashing out. I always try to remind myself that I cannot take back words or actions once I've let them out.

The same goes for sending a nasty email or text. Never send an email or text when you are angry. Write it if you must, but never hit send until you have time to cool down!

6. Having a victim mentality will always keep you a victim.

We are supposed to learn from the things that happen in our lives and move on. I'm not saying to forget the bad things, I'm saying don't let them define who you are.

Many people are stuck in the past and cannot see what greatness and potential lies ahead. You cannot move forward if you’re constantly looking backward. Create a future based on your past experiences and use the pain to make your life meaningful...like helping others through the same type of experience.

7. No one owes you anything .

Seriously, they don’t. I mean it, NO. ONE. OWES. YOU. ANYTHING. Having an "I'm entitled" mindset will not lead you anywhere. I tell my boys this over and over. Which brings me to #8 ....

8. If you want something…you have to work hard for it.

This is an extension of #7 . If you want something bad enough, work hard to get it. Work until your fingers bleed. Work until you are tired and can’t see straight. Don’t wait for whatever it is you want to fall in your lap or for someone to give it to you. Go out and grab it.

Trust me, you will be much more protective of whatever it is if you earn it, rather than having it handed to you. Nothing can replace the feelings of success when you work with everything you have for whatever it is you desire.

9. Every decision you make or action you take has a consequence.

This is really an extension of #4 but needs to be reiterated. Every decision, choice and action you make really does have consequences; some good, some bad. You cannot go through life thinking that you can do anything you please without some kind of consequence.

It’s very simple…If you commit a crime, eventually you will get caught. If you work hard, you will eventually see the fruits of your labor. That is why I pray so hard when faced with decisions to make. If it is in the will of God, He will assist me to make the right choices. This is an important lesson that I have had to learn...more than once.

10. The people you love will hurt you sometimes.

People you love may not want to hurt you, but sometimes they do. This is a part of life and love and relationships. This is why unconditional love is so important. Unconditional love allows us to see beyond the hurt and into the heart of the person who hurt us and to know their true intentions. It also allows us to make a decision as to whether or not the person who hurt you even has a place in your life. Remember, God places people in your life, but He also removes them from your life.

11. Prayer works

This is actually the most important lesson that I have learned. Call it saving the best for last... it is the one I want to leave fresh in your mind.

I honestly don't know where I would be without God in my life. I have to pray . I have to seek God's Word. I have to know that I am doing what He has laid out for me. I have to pray for others.

God is there - always; in the darkest hours and on the brightest days. He answers - always. His answers may not be what I think they should be, but He knows best. Prayer is what gets me through everything and without it, without Jesus, I would be lost.

Related Post : Things I Know For Certain

Each of these lessons that I listed are a result of my own personal experiences. Perhaps you can relate to some of them. I'm sure that as I continue to experience new things, I will add to the list.

What are some life lessons that you have learned? Maybe you are stuck in an area of your life and are unsure of the lesson. If so, pray through it and ask God to reveal it to you... He will.

Don’t forget that every lesson is meant to build you up to become the best version of yourself. There are no bad lessons… each one serves a purpose in your life.

Count each lesson in your life as a blessing, even when it seems like an impossible thing to do.

#Inspiration #Life #PrayerWorks #GodIsInControl #LifeLessons

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The Ultimate List Of 145 Life Lessons You Must Learn

Do you ever look back on your life and think, “Gosh, I wish I'd learned that lesson a long time ago?”

You think you have a handle on how life works, only to discover after a few failed relationships, difficult challenges, and misguided assumptions that you've been missing something valuable.

As a result, much of life is wasted on worry, regret, pain, and heartache. Of course, some of this is inevitable and necessary.

But we end up spending too much time sweating over things unnecessarily instead of focusing on what is important in life.

It seems “life lessons” are called that for a reason.

The lessons learned in life are a byproduct of life itself.

But you can learn some of these lessons before life forces them on you in a painful way.

What Are Life Lessons?

What is the most important life lesson, 145 of the best life lessons ever, inspirational life lessons for kids, life lessons for young adults, life lessons for your career, life lessons for your relationships, moral lessons.

A life lesson is a powerful piece of wisdom, knowledge, insight, or self-awareness that you adopt to improve yourself , your relationships, and your life in general.

You often need to experience life in order to learn the lesson . And the more life you experience, the more lessons you accumulate.

But some extremely valuable life instruction can be learned from wise thinkers and experts as well as from friends and family.

Although some lessons must be learned through experience, you don't have to wait until you're old to become aware of what's truly meaningful and worthwhile. You simply need the curiosity and desire for self-awareness and personal growth.

Once you learn the lesson, you can apply it in your life at any age and enjoy the benefits that enhance your happiness and well-being .

All of these lessons are interconnected in many ways. Learning and embracing one often leads you to another. But we believe the most important and life-changing lesson is #1 — your life is now.

Since this moment is the only reality, be fully present with it, appreciate it, and try to live it to the fullest. Nothing else really matters except this moment.

Whether moral lessons, learning lessons, or deep life advice, our list covers a lifetime's worth of insights worth embracing.

As you reflect on each one, make notes in a journal or notebook about how you can make these great life lessons work for you.

1. Your life is now.

We keeping waiting for that amazing thing to happen in the future that will be the key to our happiness.

But this is it. Your life is right now. Life continues to be a series of right nows. So learn to love your life right now, and you'll have an amazing life.

2. Fear is an illusion (mostly).

Most of the things we fear never happen. Or if they do happen, they are rarely as bad as we fear they will be. For most of us, fear is the worst thing that will happen to us. Reality isn't as painful.

3. Relationships rule.

At the end of the day, what matters most in life are the people in our lives.

Put them first every single day. Before work. Before the computer. Before your hobbies. Treat them like they are your everything. Because they are.

4. Debt isn't worth it.

Nothing is more draining and humiliating than being in debt.

Buying things you can't afford might give you a short-term buzz, but in the long run, it's extremely stressful.

Spend below your means. Save money. Wait until you can afford it. Live a debt-free life.

5. Your kids aren't you.

You are the vessels to bring your children into the world and their caretakers until they can care for themselves.

You can teach them, love them, and support them, but you can't change them. They are unique individuals who must live their own lives and learn from their own mistakes. Let them.

6. Things gather dust.

Time and money spent accumulating material things will one day irritate you.

You have to clean, maintain, store, and move stuff. The less stuff you have in your life, the freer you are. Purchase mindfully. Simplify. Declutter your life.

7. Fun is underrated.

How much of your daily life is fun? Really fun?

Life is short. You should enjoy it. Don't make things serious that don't have to be.

Create more fun in your life. Don't worry about what other people think of your fun. Just enjoy it.

8. Failure is good.

We try so hard to avoid failure, but failure is the real evidence that we've had the courage to try.

If you avoid failure, you avoid taking action. Expect and accept that failure is part of the experience. Learn from it, grow from it, and move on.

9. Friendships need care.

One of the top five regrets of the dying is that they let their friendships fade away.

Friendships need time and attention. They need to be prioritized not just in word but in deed.

Nurture them like a prized garden. The payoff is so worth it.

10. Prioritize experiences.

The pleasure and positive memories afforded by great experiences far outweigh material things. If you're trying to decide between the new sofa or the family trip, take the trip every time.

Save and plan for new adventures and meaningful experiences. Don't just dream about them — make them happen.

11. Anger isn't worth it.

The feel-good release of anger lasts a few minutes. The repercussions last far longer.

Regret , stress, and unhappiness are the byproducts of angry outbursts. Learn healthier ways to communicate your feelings, and when anger arises, step away until it dissipates.

12. Kindness matters.

Small expressions of kindness have an enormous positive impact on other people and on your own happiness.

It doesn't take much to be kind. Practice it every day of your life, in every situation, until it's your natural way of being.

13. Age is a number.

When you're twenty you think fifty is old. When you're fifty, you feel thirty. When you're seventy, fifty looks like adolescence.

Our chronological age doesn't have to define us. Don't allow a number to hold you back or prevent you from being the person you are inside. Just be the person you are inside.

14. Vulnerability heals.

Being real, open, and vulnerable invites people in and allows them to relate to you on a much deeper and more intimate level.

Vulnerability, practiced with safe and loving people, can heal emotional pain and strengthen relationships .

Let down your walls and connect. It's surprisingly liberating.

15. Posturing builds walls.

Creating a persona to impress or shield yourself from pain diminishes intimacy and authenticity.

People generally see through this, and it pushes them away. And you look like a fool.

16. Exercise is power.

Exercise should be a daily priority for everyone. It makes you physically, mentally, and emotionally stronger.

It improves your health and your outlook. It is the panacea for just about everything.

17. Grudges cause pain.

Holding on to a grudge is like injecting poison into your body every day. Forgive and let go. There's no other way.

If your ego is preventing you from forgiving and letting something go, then tell your ego to take a hike. It's getting in the way of your happiness and well-being.

18. Passion upgrades life.

When you find that thing you love to do with all your heart, every day feels like a gift.

If you haven't found your life passion , make it your mission to find it. The joy it brings you spills over into all aspects of your life.

19. Travel expands you.

Travel makes you a more interesting, insightful, and accepting person.

It expands you, enlightens you, and teaches you about the variety of people, lifestyles, and cultures. It is a pursuit well worth saving for.

20. You aren't always right.

We think we have the answers and know what's right and wrong, good and bad, and best for ourselves and other people. But we aren't always right.

There's always more than one version. There are many perspectives that are valid. Always remember this life teaching and keep yourself open to that truth.

21. It will pass.

Whatever is causing you worry or pain right now won't cause you worry and pain forever. Time heals. Things change. It will pass.

22. You define meaning.

A meaningful life is what you define it to be.

If you neglect to define meaning for your life , you won't experience it. Decide what makes life worth living for you, and then design your life around that.

23. Risk expands you.

To make a positive change in your life, you often must take a risk. You must tolerate some level of uncertainty.

Taking thoughtful, calculated risk strengthens your “change muscle” and helps you grow.

24. Change is good.

Life is change. We shouldn't resist it.

Remaining stagnant is in opposition to the natural order of life. Flow with change. Embrace it and regard it as an adventure.

25. Thoughts aren't real.

Every moment of the day, we have random thoughts floating through our brains.

Many of the thoughts are negative and limiting. You don't have to believe them. They aren't the truth or the whole truth.

Thoughts can become our reality, but only if we let them.

26. You can't control others.

We want people to think and behave as we do. We want them to accommodate us and live the way we think they should live. We want to change them.

But with awareness, we realize we can't and shouldn't try to control others. Instead, embrace differences and honor the uniqueness of the people in your life.

27. Your body is a temple.

We all have something or many somethings we hate about our bodies. But your body houses your very essence.

Treat your body with respect and care for the efficient and wondrous way it takes care of you. Even if there are parts of your body you don't like, focus on your body with a sense of love and gratitude.

28. Touch heals.

Physical touch is healing and intimate. It bonds us to other people and relieves stress and anxiety .

It has a myriad of health benefits, such as lowering heart rate and improving the immune system.

Mindful, loving touch with those you love is a gift that should be shared.

29. You can handle it.

Whatever you think you can't handle, you actually can.

You have more strength, more resilience , and more inner wisdom than you give yourself credit for. You'll get through it and survive — and maybe even be better for it.

30. Gratitude multiplies happiness.

Consciously focusing on all you have rather than thinking about what you don't have is a far better use of brainpower. Gratitude fosters positivity and well-being.

31. Intuition counts.

Your judgment is important, but your intuition supercharges your judgment.

Intuition is data from your subconscious mind, based on your past experiences and patterns in life.

It can arise spontaneously when you are called on to make a decision or need information. 

32. Please yourself first.

Pleasing others for approval and acceptance might feel good in the short term, but eventually, you will lose yourself and feel resentful.

Please yourself first and give to others based on conscious choice, not the desire for approval or feelings of guilt.

33. Self-honesty is freedom.

When you are in denial about something, you are blinding yourself to the truth.

Even if the truth is temporarily painful, it will ultimately set you free. Be radically honest with yourself so you can live authentically.

34. Perfection is boring.

Perfection is unattainable, and the pursuit of it makes us boring.

It is our differences, our foibles, and our imperfections that connect us to humanity and make us real.

35. Serving creates meaning.

If you want fulfillment in your life, start with serving others. Find a way to make a difference, even a small difference, and your life will feel purposeful.

36. Little things matter.

It's not the big wins, the great accomplishments, or your status in life that really count.

It's the accumulation of little things — the quiet moments in nature, special time with our kids, seeing the smile on your spouse's face when you walk in the door. Pay attention to these things.

37. Learning is forever.

There is so much to learn and explore in our very short lifetimes. Take advantage of learning every single day.

Challenge yourself to acquire a new skill, read something different, take a class. Learning keeps our minds engaged and sharp, even into old age.

38. Aging happens.

Our bodies age. It is a truth we can't avoid. You can manage to age well by doing the best with what you've got.

Beyond that, do your best to let it go. Enjoying life is the best antidote to getting older.

39. Marriages change.

The person you married will change over time. You will change over time.

Hopefully, you will change in the same direction or come to love the changes in the other person. Don't let these changes take you by surprise.

If the changes start to pull you apart, take action as soon as possible to heal the rift.

40. Worry is worthless.

Worry is useful only if it leads directly to a solution. But the very nature of worry implies that it doesn't.

You worry about “what ifs” that aren't real, and the worry itself creates stress and physical symptoms that cause real reasons for angst. Learn how to manage your worried thoughts.

41. Heal your wounds.

Don't allow pain from your past (or present) to linger and cause you suffering.

Don't stuff it down or pretend it doesn't matter when it does.

Seek support from a professional trained to help you heal and renew your emotional health.

42. Simple is better.

A life full of complications, obligations, and an overwhelming schedule makes life more difficult and stressful. A simpler life, in all regards, gives you more space for joy, authenticity, and engagement.

43. Do the work.

If you want something in life, you must do the work to get it. There are rarely shortcuts.

But fortunately, the work is what affords the most sense of accomplishment. The process is more engaging than the outcome.

44. It's never too late.

This is an excuse for not trying. Great things can be accomplished at any age. Telling yourself otherwise is a sure way to remain stuck and frustrated.

45. Action beats angst.

Action is the cure for worry, procrastination, indecision, anxiety, and frustration.

Stop thinking and do something, and you will create momentum that leads to something valuable — or at the least heals your turmoil.

46. Creation beats reaction.

Be proactive in your life, designing exactly what you want rather than reacting to what life throws at you.

Creation empowers you and expands your opportunities. Reacting disempowers you and diminishes your choices.

47. Release attachments.

Don't become too attached to outcomes or beliefs. Remain open to all possibilities and ideas.

You will be surprised how much more there is to life when you don't cling to your beliefs, opinions, and things.

48. Words matter.

The words you speak have power. Consider your words carefully. Use them for good rather than harm. Once they are out, you can't take them back.

49. Make every day count.

If you live to age ninety, how many days do you have left?

It is a finite number, and one day you will reach that last day. Remain conscious of the value of every single day.

Ask yourself every morning, “What can I do to make today count?”

50. Love is the answer.

Love is why we are here. It is the force for good in this often random, painful, and harsh world. Share it freely. Express it daily. Use it as your lodestar.

51. You deserve respect.

Just because you're a child doesn't mean you shouldn't be treated with respect.

Respect means others show you kindness and care. They listen to you and value you for the person you are.

52. Sharing feels good.

Sometimes it's hard to share your things with other people.

You might fear that by sharing, you may lose something, or someone might take advantage of you.

But sharing feels good because you are showing the other person that you care and want them to enjoy what you are enjoying.

Being generous this way makes you like yourself even better.

53. Challenges are good things.

When something is hard and challenging, you may not want to do it. It's much easier to do something that is simple and fun.

But challenging things help your brain become stronger and teach you new skills.

The more challenges you tackle, the easier it becomes to take on the next one.

54. Growing up isn't so hard.

When you're a child, thinking about becoming a grown-up can be scary.

You might wonder how you'll ever be able to do what grown-ups do.

You might wish you never have to grow up because it looks so hard.

But growing up happens slowly with the help and support of your parents and other caring adults. You don't need to worry about it.

55. Manners matter.

Learning good manners makes a difference in how other people perceive you and helps you succeed in school and life.

Helping others, saying please and thank you, holding the door for someone, taking turns, and cleaning up after ourselves are examples of manners that other people notice and like.

56. Stand up for yourself.

It's hard to feel strong and brave when someone bullies you or gossips about you.

When other children are unkind or when you are left out, you may feel uncomfortable speaking up.

But you can stand up for yourself by letting others know how their words and behaviors make you feel and that you don't like being treated this way.

57. Do hard things first.

This is a hard life lesson for children and adults. We want to put off the things that are hard and do the easy, fun things first.

But the longer you delay the hard things, the harder they become.

When you put things off, you might not have enough time to complete them when you are supposed to.

Get the hard things (like homework and chores) out of the way first so you can enjoy the things you like to do without worry.

58. Think good things about yourself.

When you think of yourself as smart, strong, happy, and attractive you will become more of these things.

But if you think negative things about yourself, you will feel bad and unhappy.

Work on having positive thoughts, and speak positively about yourself, and you can change how you feel.

59. Have big dreams.

You can achieve just about anything you set your mind to.

Wake up every morning with an idea and think about how you want to make it happen.

Have some goals about what you want to do in school and once you become an adult.

Having life goals and dreams helps you make them real.

60. Practice honesty.

Telling the truth, even when you think you might get in trouble, is one of the most important life teachings to remember.

Your honesty shows others what kind of person you are.

You want others to trust you and believe you, but if you frequently tell lies or don't tell the entire truth, people begin to doubt you.

61. Be a good friend.

What does it mean to be a good friend? It’s easy to be a good friend when everything is fun and lighthearted.

But what about when your friend is upset or when other people say bad things about your friend. 

Being a good friend means being loyal, standing up for your friend, and forgiving them when they make mistakes. It also means saying you’re sorry when you hurt or offend your friend.

62. Play more. Plugin less.

Play is the most important thing you can do as a child. Playing outside or inside stimulates your creativity, helps you learn valuable life skills, and allows you to work off steam from school and other pressures. 

Playing outside makes you physically stronger, faster, and more coordinated. It also helps your brain develop in a healthy way — something that surfing your smartphone or computer all day doesn’t do.

63. Be yourself.

You may look at another friend and wish you could be more like him or her. Maybe they possess a quality you wish you had. But you are a unique and special person, and the best person you can be is yourself.

Starting today, look in the mirror and say, “I like myself. I am nice and fun to be around. I don’t need to be anyone different because I’m great just as I am.”

64. Keep trying.

Maybe you’ve had a hard time with homework or remembering things for a test. Or you haven’t done as well as you’d like in a sport or extracurricular activity.

When this happens, you may think you just can’t do it, or you don’t have what it takes. 

Don’t give up! When things get tough, you may feel like quitting, but push yourself a little harder and try again. You can improve anything if you keep trying.

65. Listen to your parents.

You may not like it when your parents don’t let you do things you want to do or punish you when you disobey.

But remember, your parents are the people who love you most in the world and who want you to stay safe, healthy, and happy. 

Your parents have a lot of life experience, and can guide you to make good choices and decisions that help you have a better life.

They give you a lot (their love, a home, clothes, toys, food), so show them your respect by listening and honoring them.

66. It’s okay to ask questions.

You may feel embarrassed or too shy to ask a question in school or with an adult.

Maybe you think asking questions means you aren’t smart or shows that you don’t know everything. But even adults don’t know everything, and asking questions is the best way to learn. 

Asking questions isn’t dumb but instead shows that you are curious and eager to learn. It shows how smart you are to want to know more. 

67. Talk about your fears and worries.

There’s a lot going on in the world that can be scary and upsetting. Sometimes things happen at school or with friends that are confusing or hurtful.

Or maybe you’ve done something you shouldn’t have done, and you feel guilty and bad. 

Holding these feelings inside can make things even worse. Worry and fear can even make you feel sick. But talking about your feelings with your parents or another safe adult makes you feel better and helps you understand your emotions .

Even if you’re worried your parents will get mad, it’s better to talk to them than to bottle up or hide what’s inside of you.

68. It’s okay to cry.

Crying is another way to release your negative feelings. It doesn’t mean you are weak or a baby. In fact, tears help you release stress chemicals in your body and make you feel calmer.

Boys especially need to accept that their tears are perfectly normal and acceptable.

69. Your grades aren’t as important as your character.

Of course, you and your parents are proud when you make good grades. Working hard in school is important and will help you with your future goals.

But your character is more important than your grades. You should never cheat to make good grades, and your grades are not as valuable to you or others as your honesty, kindness, and integrity. 

70. Life isn't always fair.

Life will hand you difficult and sometimes terrible circumstances.

You may feel like you've somehow been singled out for punishment or that the world is out to get you.

But over time, you'll discover that life isn't always fair for you or anyone.

The sooner you accept that, the easier it will be to move past difficult times and handle them more gracefully.

71. Your mom and dad know a few things.

As a young adult, you're working to establish your own identity, separate from your parent's identity.

Sometimes that shows up as pushing away their advice and believing your mom and dad don't have the answers.

They may not have all of the answers, but their many life experiences do provide them with wisdom and knowledge that can be extremely helpful to you.

72. Your happiness is your responsibility.

No one else is to blame for your problems, and no one else can make you happy.

It's completely up to you to figure out how to solve your problems and what you need in life to feel satisfied and content.

73. Be independent before you marry.

Before you get married or live with someone for the long term, be sure that you can stand on your own two feet emotionally and financially.

Don't depend on a love partner to fulfill you or take care of you.

Learn to be self-sufficient and independent before you settle down.

74. Take care of your body.

The investment you put into your health and fitness now will pay off in spades as you get older.

Don't take your health for granted, assuming it's fine to abuse your body (with drugs, alcohol, smoking, and being sedentary) because you're young.

Many older people look back with regret and wish they had taken better care of their bodies when they were your age.

75. Don't try to please everyone.

This is an impossible goal to achieve. Not everyone will approve of you, agree with you, or even like you.

Stay true to yourself, find your tribe, and accept that you can't please everyone. Trying to will only make you crazy.

76. It's not always about you.

When you encounter someone who is unpleasant, rude, or critical, quite often this person is dealing with their own issues and projecting them on to you.

Don't allow the bad behavior or negative temperament of someone else drag you down.

Remember that it's not always about you and isn't a reflection of your character or abilities.

77. Make your bed daily.

If you can develop this morning habit and do it every day when you get out of bed, you have set yourself up for success throughout the day.

It's a small accomplishment that sets the tone for the entire day, encouraging you to complete other tasks and goals you want to achieve.

78. Practice mindfulness.

Mindfulness is being present in the here and now and savoring the moment.

Rather than dwelling in the past or fretting about the future, you are focused on exactly what you are doing with full attention.

Mindfulness prevents anxiety and regret and gives you the mental and emotional bandwidth to enjoy life without mental distractions.

79. Character matters.

Having good character and living your life in alignment with your integrity sets you apart and gives you a foundation for making the best decisions and choices.

Good character traits like honesty, loyalty, responsibility, and perseverance should be an essential component of your identity if you want to feel good about yourself and gain the respect of others.

80. Tip well.

Whether or not you’ve worked in a restaurant, you know how hard servers work and how they rely on tips for much of their income. Never skip out on tipping a server or leave an insulting amount of money for a tip.

If the service is average, tip 15%. Tip 20% for service that is better than average. Tipping well communicates to your server that you appreciate their efforts.

81. Everything in moderation.

You don’t need to get drunk to enjoy social drinking or starve yourself in order to have the perfect body.

If your mental health is suffering because you’re pulling all-nighters to have a 4.0 GPA, then your life is out of balance. Or if you’re not studying because you’re on social media all the time, something’s amiss.

It’s easy to fall into habitual or even addictive patterns that are unhealthy. The old adage, “Everything in moderation,” can be your mantra to help you create boundaries to protect yourself from overdoing it in any area of your life.

82. Find your community.

As a young adult, this is the time you’re discovering yourself and who you are.

Look around you to see if the company you keep reflects the person you are or want to be. If not, find a community of like-minded people who support you and inspire you to be your best. 

83. The internet is forever.

If you put it out there, it stays out there. In five, ten, or twenty years, do you want that picture of you drunk at a party or the not-so-professional comments you shared in a weak moment to reflect your character?

As Viktor Frankl wrote, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.” Use the space before you hit “enter” to consider what you put online and how it might impact you in years to come. 

84. You are not entitled.

It doesn’t matter where you grew up, how successful your parents are, the color of your skin, or how attractive you may be — you aren’t entitled to anything special as a result.

You may have a leg up because of these things, but your response to this should be gratitude for the gifts you’ve been given rather than entitlement because you have them. 

Life has a way of showing us that the gifts we were born with don’t compare to the effort we expend and the gratitude we express along the way.

85. Be the change you want.

You are the future. You are in charge of building the world that you want. Don’t complain about what past generations have done or the legacy they have left. Get busy being the change you want to see. 

86. Save money. 

If you want to build wealth and live a comfortable life, save money every month.

Learn to delay gratification and prioritize putting money away before you spend on non-essentials.

If you start at age 25 saving $100 a month (at a 7% return rate), you’ll have a nest egg of $343,000 at age 70. If you save $200 a month, you’ll have $767,000 when you retire.

87. Your problems aren’t unique.

It’s true that young adults today suffer more anxiety and depression than the previous generation. And it may seem your problems are unique and more challenging than those faced by past generations. 

But each generation has faced turmoil, defeat, and calamities. What matters is not who has it the hardest but rather how can you learn to cope with the inevitable challenges of life.

Fortunately, you have more resources than ever available to you online and with counseling, coaching, and other helping professions. 

88. Pursue adventures now. 

If you long to travel or want to follow a career passion that isn’t as certain as that accounting job, do it now before you have family commitments or time restrictions that prevent you.

Use this adventure time to expand yourself and your interests. Meet new people and make valuable connections for the future. Take on a part-time gig to support your travels or your passion if need be.

89. Be prepared for opportunity.

If you want to move ahead in your career, you need to set yourself up for success.

That requires being prepared when opportunities arise.

Learn as much as you can about your career field and know what you want your next move to be. Learn additional skills that will make you more of an asset.

Keep your resume updated and your interview skills polished.

90. Prove your worth.

Show the people you work for that you are worth every penny they have invested in you.

Do more than is asked of you. Initiate new ideas that support your company’s mission.

Show up early and stay late at times. Be prepared and on time for meetings and events.

91. Stay professional.

There will always be conflict and difficult personalities in any job.

But rather than allowing these challenges to frustrate you and compel you to lose your cool, do your best to remain professional in these situations.

Be the steady and thoughtful anchor when others around you are behaving unprofessionally.

92. Have goals.

Know what you want in your career and have a vision for how you are going to get there.

Don’t allow the winds of fate to determine your professional future. Become the captain of your destiny and work toward achieving what you want.

93. Build connections.

You never know who can support, sponsor, and promote you along the way.

Build relationships with all sorts of people and show them that you value their work and contributions.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to those in higher positions to introduce yourself and see how you might add value to what they do.

94. Focus on results, not activity.

Being busy at work doesn’t necessarily mean you are being productive. Know what you are working toward and what your organization is trying to achieve.

Spent your time and energy where you’ll get the most results that benefit you and your company.

95. Find mentors.

Seek out someone who is doing what you want to do, who has more experience and insights. Study that person and learn as much about his or her career path as possible.

Find a way to support that person and if possible, spend time with them so you can learn from them.

96. Control digital temptations.

Just about every job involves time on a computer and smartphone. These valuable work tools can also be huge distractions.

Make it a priority to resist the temptations of social media, email checking, and news surfing so you don’t lose focus and time on the job.

97. Give credit to others. 

Look for opportunities to let others shine in the spotlight and give credit when credit is due.

Yes, you must promote yourself at times, but you will gain more respect when you honor and support the people around you as well.

98. Listen more than talk.

We all love the sound of our own voices, but you’ll learn more by listening than talking.

When you listen more, you prevent yourself from saying something dumb or not well-considered.

You also gain more knowledge and information. Then when you do speak, people will really listen.

99. Diversify your knowledge.

You don’t want to stagnate in your job because you are pigeonholed in one area or skill. Take the initiative to learn new skills or get more education or training to make you a more valuable and marketable employee. 

100. Remember, success doesn’t happen overnight.

In a world of instant gratification, it’s hard to wait for success in your career. But most people don’t find career success until they’ve put in many years of effort and hard work.

Rather than delaying your happiness until you’ve reach the pinnacle, find joy in achieving small wins and milestones along the way.

Find fulfillment in the process of success rather than just the culmination. 

101. Learn your boss’s job.

You’re not trying to get rid of your boss but rather to be prepared if the times comes for someone to replace him or her.

Observe what your boss does daily and how he or she does it. Ask to take on some of your boss’s responsibilities with supervision.

Find ways to make your supervisor’s work life easier and more productive. As you become more invaluable, others will see you as next in line.

102. Be a positive influence.

There may be parts of your job you hate, or you may find your co-workers or even your supervisor difficult or unpleasant.

But rather than complaining or joining others in kvetching about the work or your organization, be a positive and calm force who doesn’t complain or gossip. 

103. Dress for the job you want.

These days the office environment is more casual than in years past. Entry-level employees in particular, may get by wearing jeans and other informal attire. 

Pay attention to the person whose job you’d like to have. What are they wearing? You don’t need to dress like the CEO, but up your game by making your work wardrobe more polished and professional — even if your peers don’t.

104. Be smart but ethical.

If you are vying for that promotion or to lead the next project, your co-workers are likely doing the same thing.

Everyone is competing to rise to the top, so be smart about your opportunities and distinguish yourself from others. 

But don’t compromise your ethics to reach your goals. Your character speaks volumes to decision-makers.

105. Be willing to do the hard things.

Every job has its fair share of grunt work and difficult tasks. By avoiding them, they don’t get easier or make you look professional.

Tackle the tough stuff first and get it out of your mind so you have the bandwidth to work on more interesting things. 

106. Don’t always ask for permission.

You’re an adult and have a job that needs to be done. You don’t need to ask permission for everything decision or action you take.

Be a self-starter and try to find solutions on your own without first going to a supervisor. 

Get feedback from co-workers or other more senior staff if you need to. Show that you’re capable of figuring things out without handholding. 

107. Don’t hold grudges.

There may be people in your workplace who have offended or mistreated you. You may have been fired or not given a position you thought you deserved. 

Express your anger or resentment to your friends and family, but avoid holding grudges against those who’ve wronged you. You never know when you may meet up with this person again in your career.

And you don’t know if your negative comments might one day reach a future potential employer.

108. Learn to compromise.

You can’t be in a successful marriage or love relationship without compromising at times.

The power dynamic can’t be one-sided — you are partners who must learn the give and take required from being paired with someone.

109. Forgiveness is powerful.

Be quick to forgive and let go of minor issues. Try not to keep score or hang on to grudges.

Don’t allow resentment and anger to fester. It will destroy your relationship over time.

110. Love doesn’t heal everything.

The love between you is what brought you together and keeps your relationship alive.

But love alone isn’t enough to manage the challenges and issues you’ll face as a couple.

Good communication skills, patience, and kindness (among other things) are essential for a healthy relationship.

111. The relationship must come first.

Your relationship must be your priority — over your career, kids, extended family, or anything else.

It should be the centerpiece of your life if you want all of the other aspects of your life to be happy and healthy.

112. Emotional abuse destroys intimacy.

Immature behaviors , verbal attacks, passive-aggressiveness, and control will undermine your closeness and the trust and respect between you.

Avoid emotionally abuse behaviors at all costs so you don’t poison your love and intimacy.

113. Your identity doesn’t depend on your partner.

Your relationship is primary, but that doesn’t mean you can’t maintain your separate identities.

Look to your spouse or partner as a partner — not someone you depend on to define you and make you whole.

114. Honor your love languages.

Learn about the five love languages and how important they are to your relationship.

Honor your partner’s love language, and ask your partner to honor yours.

You both need to be loved in the way that feels loving to you.

115. Communication is critical.

You can’t ignore problems or stop talking because you are angry or frustrated. If you do, resentments build and create bigger problems.

Regular communication about conflict and difficult issues may be uncomfortable, but it ensures you clear the air and find solutions together. 

116. Alone time is important.

We all need time to ourselves even in the most connected and intimate relationship.

You both need time for self-reflection, reading, or just recharging.

Giving that time to one another is a gift, and it doesn't mean you aren't bonded as a couple. In fact, it allows your bond to be stronger when you come back together .

117. Keep the spark.

Romance and intimacy can diminish over time, so it's vital to your relationship that you work on keeping the spark alive.

Plan dates together and find mutual interests that you can enjoy as a couple.

Find ways to spice up your sex life so it doesn't become rote and boring.

118. Be present.

A relationship is all about relating, and you can’t relate if you are constantly distracted and disengaged. When you and your partner are together, be fully present for him or her. Put down your phone and turn off the TV. 

Take a walk together and talk about your day. Listen to your partner attentively and show him or her that you genuinely care about what they are sharing.

If your life is busy, schedule time every day to be present for one another so that you don’t drift into separate lives. 

119. Never show contempt.

Contempt is showing disdain, condescension, and disrespect toward your partner. It’s a way of telling your partner you are better or smarter than they are.

According to relationship expert Dr. John Gottman, contempt is the most destructive behavior between love partners.

It erodes intimacy and ultimately kills the relationship. Contempt is an attitude you should never, ever have toward your partner or express to them. 

120. Heal conflict quickly.

If you allow conflict and discord to simmer for days or weeks unresolved, it becomes much more difficult to address.

The problem grows in the minds of both of you, and what could have been resolved easily now takes more time and emotional energy. 

Or you may sweep a conflict under the rug, never addressing it at all, only to have resentment and anger undermine your closeness and trust.

Address conflict as soon as you are both calm and able to talk as a team, putting the health of the relationship first. 

121. Understand you won’t change him/her.

If you begin a relationship believing you can change the other person, you’ll be in for a sad surprise.

You may see qualities in your significant other you don’t like and believe you can inspire him or her to let them go. 

But real change occurs when people have internal motivation to change. If you try to strong-arm change, your partner will resent you and feel they are never enough.

Accept your lover as he or she is and focus on what you love rather than what’s missing. 

122. Be appreciative.

One of the most common relationship complaints is the feeling that one partner takes the other for granted. The best way to remedy this issue is by both partners showing daily appreciation for one another. 

Be appreciative of who your partner is, what they bring to the relationship, and how they positively impact your life.

Show gratitude for the small and large efforts your partner makes for you and your family.  

123. Recognize your partner’s not a mind reader.

Never assume your spouse or significant other knows what you are thinking or feeling. He or she can’t read your mind and shouldn’t be expected to intuit your feelings and needs.

Don’t use passive-aggressive behaviors to hint at what you want or how you feel, even if you’re uncomfortable expressing it.

Speak directly and plainly if you want your partner to know and understand you.

124. Change happens.

If you’re in a relationship for the long haul, expect that your spouse or partner will grow and evolve over time. So will you. Sometimes you grow together, and sometimes you don’t.

Preparing yourself for the inevitable changes you both experience can help you navigate them as a team and keep your relationship solid. 

125. Comparison creates animosity.

Does someone else’s husband or wife seem more successful, attractive, or attentive than yours? Do your neighbors live a more lavish lifestyle than you can afford? 

Comparing your situation or your spouse to another person’s is a recipe for constant dissatisfaction and animosity between you.

Spend your emotional energy on the positive aspects of your relationship and life, and you’ll find that you are both happier. 

126. Know when to let go.

Hanging on to a relationship out of boredom, fear, loneliness, or guilt is not the foundation for a loving and close connection.

If the relationship is broken, and you know it can’t be fixed, then the best thing you can do for both of you is to let it go.

Letting go doesn’t mean you or your partner are failures. It reveals self-awareness and courage to say goodbye to someone you once loved when the connection no longer works. 

127. Practice empathy.

Empathy is the ability to put yourself in another person's shoes and understand his or her feelings.

Empathy shows you aren't just self-interested but want to connect with other people in a kind and loving way.

128. Respect the property of others.

By definition, showing respect for people requires you to respect their possessions. You don't take things or “borrow” them without asking.

If you are using something that belongs to another person (with permission), you take care of it and return it in the same (or better) condition it was when you borrowed it.

129. Develop courage.

Courage is showing strength in the face of hardship, grief, or pain. It's also doing something difficult and necessary in spite of your fear or anxiety about it.

Being able to step out of your comfort zone for a greater good reflects character and self-confidence. It makes you stronger and more resilient.

130. Be loyal to others.

Being loyal with those you care about means sticking with them through good times and bad — even when it would be easier or less painful to cut them off.

Loyalty involves being honest even when it's hard. It means there are not “conditions” on your relationship or friendship. And it also means you have boundaries and respecting the boundaries of the other person.

131. Cultivate tolerance of others.

Tolerance means you acknowledge and accept the opinions, values, culture, and beliefs of others — even if they differ from your own.

You don't respond to these differences with negativity or anger but rather with curiosity and evenness.

132. Don't judge.

When you judge others, you reveal a smallness in yourself — a sense of self-righteousness that lacks compassion.

Being less judgmental involves practicing empathy. You seek to understand the other person and view the situation or decision through his or her perspective.

133. Be dependable.

You know how it feels when someone let's you down and fails to follow through on a promise.

Be someone that others can count on. Do what you say you'll do . Show up on time. Live up to your commitments.

134. Have a generous spirit.

Generosity doesn't always mean giving away money or possessions. Being generous with others involves giving your time, your emotional energy, and your kind words without expecting anything in return.

A generous person is able to celebrate the successes of others and give credit when credit is due. Generosity of spirit is a quality that draws others to you.

135. Practice patience.

You've seen impatient people who get angry and complain when they don't get what they want right away. It's an unattractive and off-putting quality that reflects selfishness and immaturity.

It is hard to be patient, especially in this age of instant gratification. When you feel impatience boiling over, practice deep breathing and bring yourself back to the present moment.

136. Prioritize your family.

In a hectic world, it’s easy to neglect your family members and assume they will always be there for you.

But you need to be there for them and continue to cultivate your relationship with them. Unless your family is toxic , they should be the most important people in your life.

Maintain your close connection with your parents, siblings, and extended family members. They give you a sense of belonging, pass on traditions, and provide an invaluable support system.

137. Honor the dignity of all people.

All people, no matter their race, religion, income, background, or age, should be treated with respect and dignity.

You are no better than others, and no one is better than you. People may be different in many ways, but everyone deserves courtesy and kindness.

138. Support social justice and human rights.

You may not be an activist, but you can support fairness in wealth, opportunities, and basic needs. You can speak out about equality, gender discrimination, racism, and educational opportunities. 

Begin by educating yourself on these matters, examining your own opinions and beliefs and using social media to educate others. If you want to take action, volunteer your time for a cause you support, or join a protest or demonstration.

As humans, it is our obligation to look out for one another and correct injustices in society.

139. Develop self-discipline.

Self-discipline or willpower is a learned practice that builds your inner strength and character.

It helps you overcome temptations that stand in the way of your goals or undermine your relationships. With self-discipline, you learn to tolerate emotional discomfort for a greater good. 

140. Practice discretion.

Discretion is the practice of keeping private or sensitive information to yourself. If someone shares a secret with you, you don’t talk about it with others.

If you are privy to information at work, you don’t show it to others or leave it where people can see.

Discretion is a way of showing respect for other people — weighing whether or not sharing would cause harm to them.

141. Be a role model. 

Set an example as a positive role model of good character, and you can help shape a future generation of young people.

When you demonstrate integrity, leadership, respect, positivity, and humility, you make others want to be better people. The added benefit is that you become a better person yourself.

142. Keep your composure. 

Are you able to remain calm and in control of yourself during stressful or upsetting situations?

Maintaining composure and keeping your emotions in check is one of the most difficult acts of self-discipline.

But practicing composure allows you to make thoughtful and clear decisions and prevents you from doing or saying something you’ll later regret. 

143. Return favors. 

If someone has gone out of their way for you or extended a kindness, find a way to do the same for them.

Don’t allow favors from others to pile up without extending yourself and showing your appreciation. 

144. Revere your reputation.

As Will Rogers famously admonished, “It takes a lifetime to build a good reputation, but you can lose it in a minute.”

You can damage your professional reputation by doing something unsavory in your personal life. You can ruin it by unethical or compromising actions in your professional life.

Guard your reputation with attentive care. You may be remembered for the one bad thing you do rather than all the good you've done in the past.

145. Stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves.

Throughout your life, you'll encounter people who don't have the ability, power, knowledge, or money to stand up for themselves.

Vulnerable people appear in all walks of life and can be victims of fate, circumstance, or people. If you see an injustice or an opportunity to help someone who can't help themselves, view it as a calling from your higher self to step up.

You help not just to help the other person but also because it is universally the right thing to do.

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27 Green Flags That Signal A Definite Go With Your New Relationship 

Final Thoughts

What life lesson resonated most with you?

Was there a life lesson — or maybe several — that spoke to you?

Reading about these lessons is one thing, but it's hard to adopt these new ideas if you've developed different behaviors and habits over the years.

If you take the time now to work on new mindsets and behaviors, you won't experience regret years down the road when you realize how important these practices are.

Choose one or two to work on over the next few months. Write down a list of behaviors you need to change or mindsets you want to adjust, as well as action steps to help you make these changes.

Create a reminder and accountability system to help you stay on track with your goals. And be sure to celebrate your accomplishments as you adopt these life teachings as a permanent part of your character.

32 thoughts on “The Ultimate List Of 145 Life Lessons You Must Learn”

I agree with all of this – excellent

Here is a lesson I have learned. It is hard having the courage to find adversity but it is worthwhile.

Barrie, It’s so easy these days to see a list like this and feel a bit sceptical about the quality if the information it will contain. I read your list and it is spot on. It’s fantastic and not only am I going to take it and ponder it deeply for myself I also can tink of a number of people imediately that I want to send it to as I know it will get them thinking.

Thnak you for a real respurce with this post.

Monique Rhodes Founder

“Old saying”?? Give credit to George Bernard Shaw.

I believe this list is almost perfect. The only thing I would add to it is: Act, don’t react.

this is a wonderful list and guidelines to successful life. I appreciate all your words and wisdom.

Barrie, I haven’t even read this yet and I’m already ecstatic! I asked awhile ago if you’d do a post like this and was going to write you again, so thank you!!! You rock 🙂

Awesomeness good rules to follow!

51. Surround Yourself with People who lift you 52. Smile Everyday. 53. Don’t expect to change others until you have changed yourself. 54. There is a reason you putting off that difficult conversation. Have it now. 55. Haven’t found your passion? Keep looking (Passion changes and evolves).

You’ve learned a lot in your life, Barrie! I like the fact that thoughts aren’t real! I fully believe and support that. Best to let them float by than attach to them.

I love what Davis Nguyen had to add – excellent and helpful. My own: Time is precious – it is the stuff life is made of – use it wisely and well.

What is said is very true..what ever your age might be…you yourself will be experiencing the essence of all these 50 statements. For me at the age of 27, I have experienced more than half of these…everybody knows them..but what is difficult is how to put them into PRACTICE…experiencing is totally different from learning from your experiences..The latter is the one that will help you rather than just piling up all your experiences growing old…ONE THING I FELT MISSING IS…..one of the EASIEST AND BEST WAYS of PUTTING INTO PRACTICE ALL THESE 50 ….IS by SURRENDERANCE TO GOD ALMIGHTY….practice SPIRITUALITY, in any form it might be…which will help u achieve all these and generate POSITIVE ENERGY…51.TO include….MAKE PRAYER a part of your DAILY ROUTINE…just like exercise heals ur body…PRAYER heals you from inside…and results in PEACE…SURRENDER all your worries to god and ask him for STRENGTH..to handle your LIFE….properly by keeping in MIND all the above 50 statements..GOD BLESS US ALL

TEGA what a range of intuition youve got by adding/including the last MOST important rule which is by SURRENDERANCE TO GOD ..by that which you’ve insured and sure of a lifetime progress and by then makes it easier to put into practise the remaining motivational rules mentioned above in life ..nice tega! may God continue to broaden our understanding to life

Loved this blog post – very compelling list. Thank you for sharing your wisdom 🙂

For some of us debt is unavoidable. I have crushing student debt and then in my last years of school became disabled and unable to work but still have all this debt expected to be paid back. I definetly live humbly because of it but I don’t think I did anything wrong to be ashamed of.

Excellent….here is one of the best novel by Turkish Writer Elif Shafak about 40 rules of love…..will impress and life changing for everyone…must read and thank you.

I appreciated this motivation and leasons about life . Thanks

This is great!. Life comes with natural laws which affect our decisions and actions. All I can Say is; indeed failure is good and fear is not real. You can be who you want to be. Life is simple so don’t complicate yourself.

This is a wonderful list and guidelines to successful life. I appreciate all your words and wisdom. Thanks

life isnt fair fake it till u make it

These are awesome lesson’s of life. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful article.

Thanks for the list….god bless you

nice lessons to follow. specially fear is an illusion and exercise is power. at least everyone should follow couple of them

I must say you bring up every part I learned so I guess I have become “Wiser than I give myself credit for”? I think as humans we all can be hard on ourselves and this was a great read. Recently, myself furthermore a bit of my experience leading me to your page. I did some major reevaluating after my father had become ill. I was never close to him I come to realize and accept not his fault, not judging because I understand but deep down I believe was not good for me, of influence and there are people out there that truly love and care about me. I had to learn from my mistakes to gain wisdom that I truly wasn’t not happy at the time (therefore figuring out how) but ended up being a care-taker. I didn’t realize it had stressed me out where I had become very judgemental and not trusting of people. But then figured out how to deal with autoimmune disease that affects my stress level through diet. So of dramatic irony, he had taught me to take care of myself.

I took the time off to take care of myself and reevaluate and then I didn’t realize until afterwards acquiring wisdom throughout an entire section of my library and taking some time for myself watching my favorite old shows as a child with hidden wisdom that not only made me realize wisdom but inspired me.

I realize, i am actually pretty lucky because not only with that wisdom I had learned how to drive but with that wisdom of dramatic irony again, not meaning to judge put me on the road for a better life and through the wisdom I found gave me a new hobby. I believe he brought the worst out in me but it was because I willing to learn from the wisdom I was greatful for the past experience even if at the time it “Felt” hard because like it says anything going through a hard time is temporary/past and I realize will get better and now I am safe, secure and can be truly happy.

Also, realized I have gotten better, not only learned how to drive but have acquired skills essential for a job. Basically, I like to think of it as Mrs Doubtfire role: Through optimism and creativity I didn’t realize I already had a job at the same time, find the joy in everyday-without leaving the house lol. I reevaluated further through wisdom really was a blessing in disguise because brought me closer to my mother.

Then, the air broke down so I had to sleep closer to her from then on but we actually had bought each other fans around the same time the air broke down Basically, seems through caring and compassion we give each other air which turns out we both have the same sign air lol

Also, realizing old subconcious negative habits I have had for about 5 past years. I started with my autoimmune disease and then being able to eat again the way I liked. Then, I read about “Grief” finding out I was in the acceptance part the same time I was caretaking so was going through alot, don’t like to put a label on it. But if it wasn’t for this, wouldnt’ve given me wisdom to be a happier better person. Then, I realized about the little things being greatful for what i truly love and love to do everyday. I would start going for bike rides and write down ideas that came to me when I came back. I also log my dreams too both as well as reading pretty theraputic. I started some bibliothrapy with what I discovered…

Also, including basically what I like to call negative expectations which includes and this is human nature I realize, had not been honest with, too hard on myself, learned about Optimism which I didn’t realize had in me all along but when I stopped believing in myself had given into pessimissm, I read about being too hard on self I call self-judgement or you may have heard the term resentment and then also what is refered to but I don’t being an Optimist lol as Self-Sabatoge including Negative Perfectionism which I realized what it comes down to is Optimism, Excellence and positive expectations, don’t stress don’t judge and don’t repress.

But basically I realize how much I learned and now it’s just a matter of letting go, thinking of remembering things that I believe in, truly remember and being happy. Personally I think 3/4 of the day I’m happy half of the week is not such a bad thing. It’s basically taking a little more time to learn more and have some fun. I also discovered a new hobby I enjoyed doing including shadowworkplay and I must say thinking about it there’s a lot of positive reinforcement wisdom compassion there that has helped me and realize not only will I feel better but will help me drive on with what i want and who I love in my life and look back and laugh in good humor with life lessons/morals and I came across your page doing so must say this is one of the most greatful parts of my day today. Thank you for the experience. May you help others as you have helped me!

Very wise thoughts. Here is one that I told many years ago by a very wise mentor. “Always make sure that you understand what you already have before you wish for more”. This applies to all things emotional and physical.

I agree, Great words.

Comments are closed.

11 Most Valuable Lessons Learned in Life: Essay Ideas

Published on december 3, 2015 at 4:13 pm by caroline delbert in lists.

Every fall, teens applying to college ask themselves the same well-worn questions. Who is my best role model…in an essay of 500 words. What experience have I learned the most from…in an essay of 500 words. It’s common to ask high schoolers about life lessons, but what are the 11 most valuable “lessons learned in life” essay ideas?

For this list, I’ve mined life lessons from a variety of sources, from contemporary writers and motivational speakers like Ashli Mazer and Barrie Davenport to Jesus Christ, Jane Goodall, and Edward R. Murrow. New York Times readers offered their own best life lessons and so did a poll of 2,000 parents in the United Kingdom. Many lessons came up again and again and I’ve ranked them based on frequency, awarding 1 point for each of the nine total source lists where that lesson appeared.

moomsabuy/Shutterstock.com

I was pleased to see that clichés like “things happen for a reason” or “always smile” were not widely cited. Human beings are smarter and more complex than cross-stitch samplers. And there are plenty of less common life lessons that don’t make the cut for the 11 most valuable but are good to keep in mind anyway.

The wisdom of Jane Goodall encourages us to be kind to the Earth and ensure our legacy in caring for the environment. One New York Times reader gives the great advice to avoid con artists and egomaniacs — even if they’re related to us. Barrie Davenport reminds us that our children are their own people and need to have room to grow and be themselves.

Some of the less common life lessons are bittersweet, like learning about the luck of the draw and that time and forgiveness help to heal our emotional pain. Being honest with yourself is a great life lesson but one that is often the most hard fought. Life is not about money, but life without money is incredibly hard and limits our choices and opportunities.

Just barely missing the list were many important ideas worth mentioning, too. Manners go a long way. Choose a good life partner. Learn to get along and to resolve your differences. Maybe one of these lessons will spark a memory that you know will make a terrific essay even though it isn’t one of the most common overall life lessons.

I remember my alma mater offering a very welcome “none of the above” prompt on its application form, and I remember stopping short at an outlandish prompt offered by a very prestigious university. The college essay has almost become a parody, with prompts themselves joining in on the joke. (Maybe you remember Rory Gilmore realizing in horror that all her classmates had  also chosen Hillary Clinton as their role model topic — and she attended a school like one of the 10 most expensive boarding schools in the world .) But the college essay is real, and it’s required, and you have these role models, life experiences, or life lessons stored in your mind. They’re waiting to get out. If you’re someone with excellent prose, skip to the next part. If not… well, no need to wonder, “I need help to  write an essay for me ,” just seek online help from CustomWritings service. Time’s precious!

Just wait, though, because after you graduate from the college of your dreams, you’ll be faced with an interview question that makes every job seeker long for an insipid college essay prompt instead: What is your greatest strength, and what is your greatest weakness?

11. Learn from your mistakes — 5 points

There’s an old adage: “Never make the same mistake twice.” That advice isn’t always practical — you’ve probably Game Over’d many times on the same tough level, and eventually got through it. Learning from our mistakes isn’t instant or automatic, nor is it obvious what exactly we end up learning.

B Calkins/Shutterstock.com

10. Give back — 5 points

Western society can get very hung up on the idea that charity is a matter of money alone, but giving back is a huge category. Think about how you spend your time as well as your money, and think about how your extra resources could improve the lives of others or simply brighten their day.

9. Don’t judge — 5 points

This idea is so simple yet so challenging to really do. What other people do, say, or believe generally doesn’t concern you. More than that, as a few lists also included, we should mind our own business. In a time when the microscope of social media is always pointed at everyone we know, it takes guts to step away and not engage. That choice to accept-not-except stands out in the 11 most valuable “lessons learned from life” essay ideas.

8. Put yourself out there — 5 points

The barebones archetype of putting yourself out there is asking someone on a date. It’s nervewracking and feels just as terrible every single time you psych yourself up to do it. But putting yourself out there is more than just romance — it’s applying for a challenging job, making a new friend, taking an improv class, and so much more. Without risk there is no reward.

Slideshow be yourself Jesus Christ life lessons Jane Goodall List XFinance college essays New York Times the golden rule Edward R. Murrow best essay topics great essay topics college essay topics put yourself out there learn from your mistakes most valuable life lessons judge not lest ye be judged best application essay ideas when life gives you lemons make lemonade 10 Most Expensive Boarding Schools In the World 11 Most Valuable Lessons Learned in Life: Essay Ideas Show more... Show less

24 of the Most Powerful Life Lessons

If you are going to succeed in life, you have to learn life’s most important lessons.

BY LOLLY DASKAL ,  PRESIDENT AND CEO, LEAD FROM WITHIN   @ LOLLYDASKAL

How you approach life says a lot about who you are.

There are some who are content to passively coast through, hoping they land where they need to be and know what to do when the time comes.

Then there are others, who make active choices to understand who they are and what they want, and set the goals that will keep them moving in the right direction .

But a big part of having a successful life is learning how to cope with the lessons that life has to teach us.

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Here are 24 powerful life lessons that will happen to us, learn how they will be significant:

1. Make yourself necessary and you will always be needed. If you want to feel successful, learn to create, innovate, or design something other people can use and need.

2. Your thoughts are like boomerangs. What you pass along to others is what will come back to you.

3. You are more defined by what comes out of your mouth than what goes in it. The way you speak and the things you say have power. Speech gives us the power to create or destroy.

4. The journey of your success will always begin with the small step of taking a chance. In business, in relationships, and in life, it all begins with a small step grounded in a desire to be better and do better.

5. Your education is never complete. Determine to live fully and continually learn. Prepare for what life has to teach by being open to the lessons in everything you do and experience.

6. Don’t allow the voice of your fears to be louder than the other voices in your head. Make sure the voice of reason, the voice of belief, the voice of confidence are all strong enough to drown it out.

7. A good reputation is more valuable than money. Your reputation is built on the foundation of your character; it entails the words you speak and the actions you take. Take care of your character above all other things and your reputation will take care of itself.

8. You never really lose until you stop trying. The words “I can’t” never accomplish anything. “I’ll try,” on the other hand, can perform wonders. Until you try you don’t know what you can do.

9. You get more by giving more. Success doesn’t result from how much you get but from how much you give. If you want an abundant life, give as much as you can.

10. Rule your mind or it will rule you. When you rule your mind by controlling negativity and doubt, you rule your world. The choice is yours to make every day.

11. Great heroes are truly humble. Most of us underrate the importance of humility. It’s an important skill because it keeps you teachable, regardless of how much you already know.

12. Defeat isn’t bitter if you’re smart enough not to swallow it. At one time or another we will all experience failure. In fact, the more we are willing to risk, the more we will fail. The trick is to think of failure not as the end but as part of the process.

13. Your thoughts are powerful, make them positive. To have a life that’s more abundant and more successful, you must think in the limitless terms of abundance and success. Thinking is among the greatest powers we possess, and it’s our choice to use it negatively or positively.

14. Forgiveness benefits two people — the giver and receiver. The bravest and the smartest thing you can do in a bad situation is to forgive and move on. Don’t allow grudges and grievances to add to the weight you carry on the road to your own success.

15. The word “impossible” contains its opposite: “I’m possible.” What’s impossible may be a matter of a limited point of view. Allow no limiting beliefs to restrict your outlook on life.

16. Preparation is a stepping stone to success. As the old saying goes, failing to prepare means preparing to fail. Success can be defined as being totally prepared.

17. You are constantly creating your own reality. Your reality is built out of your thoughts, so remember how much power you have. What you think, you become; what you feel, you attract; what you imagine, you create.

18. You are in control of your own heaven or hell. You’re the master of your own destiny. You may not always be able to control your circumstances and environment, but how you respond is always within your control.

19. Envy consumes itself. And if you give it a foothold in your life, it will take you with it.

20. You can become bitter or better as a result of your circumstances. Your attitude is always up to you. No matter the circumstance, remind yourself that you have a choice. It’s up to you to get the results you want.

21. Those who seldom make mistakes seldom stumble upon new innovation. Mistakes are proof that you’re trying, creating, exploring, and discovering. Every success story, every fulfilled life needs mistakes. We may think of mistakes as meaning you’ve done something wrong, but in truth they mean you’re doing something right.

22. It’s in losing yourself that you find yourself. The greatest challenge in life is discovering who you are, and the second greatest is being happy with what you find.

23. When you’re facing the right direction, all you need to do is keep walking. If you’re lucky enough to know what you want, you can apply your passion and always love what you do. If you’re still working to discover what you want, keep exploring. Either way, stay persistent and determined.

24. Be grateful every day, because that’s the source of true power. The most important power lies in a grateful heart. Practice turning your thoughts toward appreciation and giving thanks, because that is where you will find your gifts, strength, and power.

Refreshed leadership advice from CEO Stephanie Mehta

The Most Important Lessons Life Has Taught Me Thus Far

• https://thoughtcatalog.com/?p=678187

You know when everyone says that your high school days are the best days of your life? It’s almost as if they’re saying it couldn’t get any better than waking up every morning at 8 AM and surviving another group project! 

After high school ended, my life just started to begin and sometimes I feel as if it hasn’t even begun now.

Everything I survived up until now was just a crash course for what is yet to come. 

My first lesson taught me to  live for myself and not for others.  You can’t change other people, so either you change yourself or change your situation. Why should you have to change for them to like you when you have always accepted them exactly the way they are? 

Every flaw is a gift. These are the gifts that make you priceless. No one can put a value on something that is so unique that it can’t be compared or labelled as nothing like it exists in the world.  

Your flaws make you exceptional in a way that makes it  impossible for anyone to compete with you because they don’t have what you have.  And what you have, there’s not even a name for it, because you are the only one who has it. 

My second lesson taught me that  even the ones closest to you are the ones who are the most distant.  You may not hear from them every day or even in a year. At times, you wonder if you can still call them a friend or have they become another name on your Facebook?

Be thankful for everything they did do, even if they don’t do it anymore. They were there once when you needed them and for that reason you are able to solve all your problems today on your own. It may not seem like it, but every small text, trip to the bar and even the moments when all they did was put a hand on your shoulder,  was a gesture that you mattered.

Sometimes, it seems like you don’t matter to them anymore. You can’t read their minds, so maybe they have moved on. But they played a role in your life. Each advice, conversation, fight and moment, were tools for you to be the person you have become but didn’t think you could be. 

If it wasn’t for those small gestures that made you feel like there were people out there to whom you were important to, you wouldn’t realize that at the end of the day,  the only person that you need to matter to, is you.  

My third lesson taught me that  a real heart break can only happen by the ones you love.  Otherwise, you can’t even call it a heart break. You only give your heart to the people you love. They are the ones who have you heart, therefore, the only ones who have the power to break it.

But there’s a reason you give your heart to the wrong people. Your heart needs to break.  It needs to have cracks and holes to let in the right love that would have otherwise been unable to make it through if your heart was completely sealed.

My fourth lesson taught me that  the ones who are good, are often the ones who have it the worst.  We have to fight harder and sometimes even breathe harder just to live in the same air as everyone else.

It’s not fair. But have you noticed? The ones who do have it perfect, are the most flawed people of this world. They are weak because they never had to fight for anything. They never had to try to reach for stars so their feet never left the land.  Although it may seem like they are soaring in the air when in fact, they have never even made it past the ground.  

We may not have much, but we have more in our minds than they will ever have in their entire lives. And that’s when you truly realize  that we are the ones who really have it the best.

My fifth and last lesson taught me,  that you feel the happiest, when you are completely alone.  Away from everyone else you learn to discover yourself as you truly are the natural beautiful you, and not the “you” you become and are molded into in the presence of others. 

You don’t even realize it, but we change ourselves when in the company of our friends, our close friends and our best friends. We act differently with our bosses, co-workers and family at home.  Every person in our lives define who we are before we even get a chance to know who that person is.

Being away from all that inspired me to create myself. Who I was before was a creation made by others.  If I am truly the captain of my soul, how have I always let everyone else run it?  

When you are alone, you become your only boss. So be the best d*mn boss you can be. Be so cruel that nothing anyone can ever say will break you the way you broke yourself. 

Laugh at your silly mistakes so whenever another person tries to laugh at you, you can say you already beat them to it. Teach yourself to hate the things that people love the most about you, and love the things that they hate the most. 

About the author

Mariya Hoque

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The most important life lessons i've learned so far, life is more than just a channel to perfection..

There are so many great lessons we all learn in life. I personally made a list with some of the most important ones so far, specifically, lessons that had a great impact in my life. These lessons have helped me become the person I am today. I know there are much more to come and I am excited to see what they have to offer.

1. Life poses no mistakes, rather lessons for us to learn.

We are constantly learning from everything, everyone and everyplace. It is evident, as humans, that we are prone to make mistakes, it’s the way of life. However, instead of dwelling on these mistakes, it is important that we learn from them. That we take from them lessons to better ourselves and our lives.

2. Forgiveness is key.

Forgiving those who have hurt us is something we all should learn to accept. Many times it can be satisfying to hold tight to our resentments, but many times this only leads to a larger build up of hatred. To forgive is to be strong. You will, at last, be able to find peace, not just within the situation but yourself as well.

3. Life is about the journey.

A lot of times we get so caught up in what we want to achieve, the ability to live life to perfection, that end result, so much so that we forget to live and to really enjoy this wonderful journey of living. Sometimes we need to allow ourselves to live. To observe the wonderful world that surrounds us, the people that make life worth living and the beauty that were faced with every day.

4. Everyone deserves a second chance.

The moment you forgive somebody; chances are that you will also give them a second chance. By doing this, you are also allowing yourself to grow. Everyone makes mistakes, everyone is human. Which is why everyone deserves a second chance. A chance to redeem themselves. An opportunity to learn and grow as an individual.

5. Believe in Yourself.

Don’t expect others to give you all the satisfaction you need. Only you can determine your path. If you don’t believe in yourself, who will? You need to believe that you are capable of being worthy and doing good in this world. If not, then life will be no more than just motions. Believe in yourself to add meaning to your life. To give your life substance and the meaning that it deserves.

6. Anxiety is real. And it's okay.

You might not see it coming and you might not know why it happened. And no matter how hard you try, you will never know the answer. Which is why dwelling is toxic. Anxiety is hard. It is scary and uncomfortable. But they only think that makes it worse is running away from it. In order to combat some of our biggest fears, we need to be strong. Anxiety is normal. It can be dealt with and you will be okay. The problem stems from figuring out how to be okay. Once you do this, anxiety won’t be a stigma, it will be a part of your life. Not a mental illness, but something that you deal with every day, a part of your facade.

Life isn’t perfect and neither are we. Life is a journey that no one knows the answer to. Each and every day we are learning more about ourselves and more about the world around us. I’ve had some incredible life experiences and some bad ones too. But what’s living without a few bumps in the road. Life is happening all around us. That’s why it's crucial that we cherish each and every second, both the good and the bad. We spend to much time living in the “what if”, it’s time we start focusing on the “now.” It’s time you live life to the fullest and experience the difference.

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25 beatles lyrics: your go-to guide for every situation, the best lines from the fab four.

For as long as I can remember, I have been listening to The Beatles. Every year, my mom would appropriately blast “Birthday” on anyone’s birthday. I knew all of the words to “Back In The U.S.S.R” by the time I was 5 (Even though I had no idea what or where the U.S.S.R was). I grew up with John, Paul, George, and Ringo instead Justin, JC, Joey, Chris and Lance (I had to google N*SYNC to remember their names). The highlight of my short life was Paul McCartney in concert twice. I’m not someone to “fangirl” but those days I fangirled hard. The music of The Beatles has gotten me through everything. Their songs have brought me more joy, peace, and comfort. I can listen to them in any situation and find what I need. Here are the best lyrics from The Beatles for every and any occasion.

And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make

The End- Abbey Road, 1969

The sun is up, the sky is blue, it's beautiful and so are you

Dear Prudence- The White Album, 1968

Love is old, love is new, love is all, love is you

Because- Abbey Road, 1969

There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be

All You Need Is Love, 1967

Life is very short, and there's no time for fussing and fighting, my friend

We Can Work It Out- Rubber Soul, 1965

He say, "I know you, you know me", One thing I can tell you is you got to be free

Come Together- Abbey Road, 1969

Oh please, say to me, You'll let me be your man. And please say to me, You'll let me hold your hand

I Wanna Hold Your Hand- Meet The Beatles!, 1964

It was twenty years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play. They've been going in and out of style, but they're guaranteed to raise a smile

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band-1967

Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see

Strawberry Fields Forever- Magical Mystery Tour, 1967

Can you hear me? When it rains and shine, it's just a state of mind

Rain- Paperback Writer "B" side, 1966

Little darling, it's been long cold lonely winter. Little darling, it feels like years since it' s been here. Here comes the sun, Here comes the sun, and I say it's alright

Here Comes The Sun- Abbey Road, 1969

We danced through the night and we held each other tight, and before too long I fell in love with her. Now, I'll never dance with another when I saw her standing there

Saw Her Standing There- Please Please Me, 1963

I love you, I love you, I love you, that's all I want to say

Michelle- Rubber Soul, 1965

You say you want a revolution. Well you know, we all want to change the world

Revolution- The Beatles, 1968

All the lonely people, where do they all come from. All the lonely people, where do they all belong

Eleanor Rigby- Revolver, 1966

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends

With A Little Help From My Friends- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967

Hey Jude, don't make it bad. Take a sad song and make it better

Hey Jude, 1968

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away. Now it looks as though they're here to stay. Oh, I believe in yesterday

Yesterday- Help!, 1965

And when the brokenhearted people, living in the world agree, there will be an answer, let it be.

Let It Be- Let It Be, 1970

And anytime you feel the pain, Hey Jude, refrain. Don't carry the world upon your shoulders

I'll give you all i got to give if you say you'll love me too. i may not have a lot to give but what i got i'll give to you. i don't care too much for money. money can't buy me love.

Can't Buy Me Love- A Hard Day's Night, 1964

All you need is love, love is all you need

All You Need Is Love- Magical Mystery Tour, 1967

Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly. all your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise.

Blackbird- The White Album, 1968

Though I know I'll never lose affection, for people and things that went before. I know I'll often stop and think about them. In my life, I love you more

In My Life- Rubber Soul, 1965

While these are my 25 favorites, there are quite literally 1000s that could have been included. The Beatles' body of work is massive and there is something for everyone. If you have been living under a rock and haven't discovered the Fab Four, you have to get musically educated. Stream them on Spotify, find them on iTunes or even buy a CD or record (Yes, those still exist!). I would suggest starting with 1, which is a collection of most of their #1 songs, or the 1968 White Album. Give them chance and you'll never look back.

14 Invisible Activities: Unleash Your Inner Ghost!

Obviously the best superpower..

The best superpower ever? Being invisible of course. Imagine just being able to go from seen to unseen on a dime. Who wouldn't want to have the opportunity to be invisible? Superman and Batman have nothing on being invisible with their superhero abilities. Here are some things that you could do while being invisible, because being invisible can benefit your social life too.

1. "Haunt" your friends.

Follow them into their house and cause a ruckus.

2. Sneak into movie theaters.

Going to the cinema alone is good for your mental health , says science

Considering that the monthly cost of subscribing to a media-streaming service like Netflix is oft...

Free movies...what else to I have to say?

3. Sneak into the pantry and grab a snack without judgment.

Late night snacks all you want? Duh.

4. Reenact "Hollow Man" and play Kevin Bacon.

America's favorite son? And feel what it's like to be in a MTV Movie Award nominated film? Sign me up.

5. Wear a mask and pretend to be a floating head.

Just another way to spook your friends in case you wanted to.

6. Hold objects so they'll "float."

"Oh no! A floating jar of peanut butter."

7. Win every game of hide-and-seek.

Just stand out in the open and you'll win.

8. Eat some food as people will watch it disappear.

Even everyday activities can be funny.

9. Go around pantsing your friends.

Even pranks can be done; not everything can be good.

10. Not have perfect attendance.

You'll say here, but they won't see you...

11. Avoid anyone you don't want to see.

Whether it's an ex or someone you hate, just use your invisibility to slip out of the situation.

12. Avoid responsibilities.

Chores? Invisible. People asking about social life? Invisible. Family being rude? Boom, invisible.

13. Be an expert on ding-dong-ditch.

Never get caught and have the adrenaline rush? I'm down.

14. Brag about being invisible.

Be the envy of the town.

But don't, I repeat, don't go in a locker room. Don't be a pervert with your power. No one likes a Peeping Tom.

Good luck, folks.

19 Lessons I'll Never Forget from Growing Up In a Small Town

There have been many lessons learned..

Small towns certainly have their pros and cons. Many people who grow up in small towns find themselves counting the days until they get to escape their roots and plant new ones in bigger, "better" places. And that's fine. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought those same thoughts before too. We all have, but they say it's important to remember where you came from. When I think about where I come from, I can't help having an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for my roots. Being from a small town has taught me so many important lessons that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

1. The importance of traditions.

Sometimes traditions seem like a silly thing, but the fact of it is that it's part of who you are. You grew up this way and, more than likely, so did your parents. It is something that is part of your family history and that is more important than anything.

2. How to be thankful for family and friends.

No matter how many times they get on your nerves or make you mad, they are the ones who will always be there and you should never take that for granted.

3. How to give back.

When tragedy strikes in a small town, everyone feels obligated to help out because, whether directly or indirectly, it affects you too. It is easy in a bigger city to be able to disconnect from certain problems. But in a small town those problems affect everyone.

4. What the word "community" really means.

Along the same lines as #3, everyone is always ready and willing to lend a helping hand when you need one in a small town and to me that is the true meaning of community. It's working together to build a better atmosphere, being there to raise each other up, build each other up, and pick each other up when someone is in need. A small town community is full of endless support whether it be after a tragedy or at a hometown sports game. Everyone shows up to show their support.

5. That it isn't about the destination, but the journey.

People say this to others all the time, but it takes on a whole new meaning in a small town. It is true that life is about the journey, but when you're from a small town, you know it's about the journey because the journey probably takes longer than you spend at the destination. Everything is so far away that it is totally normal to spend a couple hours in the car on your way to some form of entertainment. And most of the time, you're gonna have as many, if not more, memories and laughs on the journey than at the destination.

6. The consequences of making bad choices.

Word travels fast in a small town, so don't think you're gonna get away with anything. In fact, your parents probably know what you did before you even have a chance to get home and tell them. And forget about being scared of what your teacher, principle, or other authority figure is going to do, you're more afraid of what your parents are gonna do when you get home.

7. To trust people, until you have a reason not to.

Everyone deserves a chance. Most people don't have ill-intentions and you can't live your life guarding against every one else just because a few people in your life have betrayed your trust.

8. To be welcoming and accepting of everyone.

While small towns are not always extremely diverse, they do contain people with a lot of different stories, struggle, and backgrounds. In a small town, it is pretty hard to exclude anyone because of who they are or what they come from because there aren't many people to choose from. A small town teaches you that just because someone isn't the same as you, doesn't mean you can't be great friends.

9. How to be my own, individual person.

In a small town, you learn that it's okay to be who you are and do your own thing. You learn that confidence isn't how beautiful you are or how much money you have, it's who you are on the inside.

10. How to work for what I want.

Nothing comes easy in life. They always say "gardens don't grow overnight" and if you're from a small town you know this both figuratively and literally. You certainly know gardens don't grow overnight because you've worked in a garden or two. But you also know that to get to the place you want to be in life it takes work and effort. It doesn't just happen because you want it to.

11. How to be great at giving directions.

If you're from a small town, you know that you will probably only meet a handful of people in your life who ACTUALLY know where your town is. And forget about the people who accidentally enter into your town because of google maps. You've gotten really good at giving them directions right back to the interstate.

12. How to be humble .

My small town has definitely taught me how to be humble. It isn't always about you, and anyone who grows up in a small town knows that. Everyone gets their moment in the spotlight, and since there's so few of us, we're probably best friends with everyone so we are as excited when they get their moment of fame as we are when we get ours.

13. To be well-rounded.

Going to a small town high school definitely made me well-rounded. There isn't enough kids in the school to fill up all the clubs and sports teams individually so be ready to be a part of them all.

14. How to be great at conflict resolution.

In a small town, good luck holding a grudge. In a bigger city you can just avoid a person you don't like or who you've had problems with. But not in a small town. You better resolve the issue fast because you're bound to see them at least 5 times a week.

15. The beauty of getting outside and exploring.

One of my favorite things about growing up in a rural area was being able to go outside and go exploring and not have to worry about being in danger. There is nothing more exciting then finding a new place somewhere in town or in the woods and just spending time there enjoying the natural beauty around you.

16. To be prepared for anything.

You never know what may happen. If you get a flat tire, you better know how to change it yourself because you never know if you will be able to get ahold of someone else to come fix it. Mechanics might be too busy , or more than likely you won't even have enough cell service to call one.

17. That you don't always have to do it alone.

It's okay to ask for help. One thing I realized when I moved away from my town for college, was how much my town has taught me that I could ask for help is I needed it. I got into a couple situations outside of my town where I couldn't find anyone to help me and found myself thinking, if I was in my town there would be tons of people ready to help me. And even though I couldn't find anyone to help, you better believe I wasn't afraid to ask.

18. How to be creative.

When you're at least an hour away from normal forms of entertainment such as movie theaters and malls, you learn to get real creative in entertaining yourself. Whether it be a night looking at the stars in the bed of a pickup truck or having a movie marathon in a blanket fort at home, you know how to make your own good time.

19. To brush off gossip.

It's all about knowing the person you are and not letting others influence your opinion of yourself. In small towns, there is plenty of gossip. But as long as you know who you really are, it will always blow over.

Grateful Beyond Words: A Letter to My Inspiration

I have never been so thankful to know you..

I can't say "thank you" enough to express how grateful I am for you coming into my life. You have made such a huge impact on my life. I would not be the person I am today without you and I know that you will keep inspiring me to become an even better version of myself.

You have taught me that you don't always have to strong. You are allowed to break down as long as you pick yourself back up and keep moving forward. When life had you at your worst moments, you allowed your friends to be there for you and to help you. You let them in and they helped pick you up. Even in your darkest hour you showed so much strength. I know that you don't believe in yourself as much as you should but you are unbelievably strong and capable of anything you set your mind to.

Your passion to make a difference in the world is unbelievable. You put your heart and soul into your endeavors and surpass any personal goal you could have set. Watching you do what you love and watching you make a difference in the lives of others is an incredible experience. The way your face lights up when you finally realize what you have accomplished is breathtaking and I hope that one day I can have just as much passion you have.

SEE MORE: A Letter To My Best Friend On Her Birthday

The love you have for your family is outstanding. Watching you interact with loved ones just makes me smile . You are so comfortable and you are yourself. I see the way you smile when you are around family and I wish I could see you smile like this everyday. You love with all your heart and this quality is something I wished I possessed.

You inspire me to be the best version of myself. I look up to you. I feel that more people should strive to have the strength and passion that you exemplify in everyday life.You may be stubborn at points but when you really need help you let others in, which shows strength in itself. I have never been more proud to know someone and to call someone my role model. You have taught me so many things and I want to thank you. Thank you for inspiring me in life. Thank you for making me want to be a better person.

Waitlisted for a College Class? Here's What to Do!

Dealing with the inevitable realities of college life..

Course registration at college can be a big hassle and is almost never talked about. Classes you want to take fill up before you get a chance to register. You might change your mind about a class you want to take and must struggle to find another class to fit in the same time period. You also have to make sure no classes clash by time. Like I said, it's a big hassle.

This semester, I was waitlisted for two classes. Most people in this situation, especially first years, freak out because they don't know what to do. Here is what you should do when this happens.

Don't freak out

This is a rule you should continue to follow no matter what you do in life, but is especially helpful in this situation.

Email the professor

Around this time, professors are getting flooded with requests from students wanting to get into full classes. This doesn't mean you shouldn't burden them with your email; it means they are expecting interested students to email them. Send a short, concise message telling them that you are interested in the class and ask if there would be any chance for you to get in.

Attend the first class

Often, the advice professors will give you when they reply to your email is to attend the first class. The first class isn't the most important class in terms of what will be taught. However, attending the first class means you are serious about taking the course and aren't going to give up on it.

Keep attending class

Every student is in the same position as you are. They registered for more classes than they want to take and are "shopping." For the first couple of weeks, you can drop or add classes as you please, which means that classes that were once full will have spaces. If you keep attending class and keep up with assignments, odds are that you will have priority. Professors give preference to people who need the class for a major and then from higher to lower class year (senior to freshman).

Have a backup plan

For two weeks, or until I find out whether I get into my waitlisted class, I will be attending more than the usual number of classes. This is so that if I don't get into my waitlisted class, I won't have a credit shortage and I won't have to fall back in my backup class. Chances are that enough people will drop the class, especially if it is very difficult like computer science, and you will have a chance. In popular classes like art and psychology, odds are you probably won't get in, so prepare for that.

Remember that everything works out at the end

Life is full of surprises. So what if you didn't get into the class you wanted? Your life obviously has something else in store for you. It's your job to make sure you make the best out of what you have.

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Essay on Lesson Learned In Life

Students are often asked to write an essay on Lesson Learned In Life in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Lesson Learned In Life

Mistakes are teachers.

Life is full of ups and downs. One big lesson is that making mistakes is normal. When we do something wrong, we can learn from it. Think of a time you fell off your bike. You got back up and tried again, and now you can ride without falling. Mistakes help us grow.

Sharing Brings Joy

Sharing with others makes us happy. When you give some of your lunch to a friend who forgot theirs, you feel good inside. It’s not just about things; sharing stories and time with family and friends is important too.

Patience Pays Off

Being patient is hard but worth it. If you plant a seed, it doesn’t grow into a flower overnight. You wait and take care of it, and then one day, it blooms. Patience in life helps you achieve goals and make friends.

250 Words Essay on Lesson Learned In Life

Important life lessons.

Life is like a book filled with chapters of different experiences. Each page we turn teaches us something new. One of the biggest lessons life teaches us is the value of time. Time, once gone, never comes back. It’s like water flowing from a tap. If we don’t use it wisely, it’s wasted. This teaches us to make the best use of the time we have.

Friendship and Kindness

Hard work pays off.

We also find out that hard work is the key to success. If we want to achieve something, we must put in the effort. Like planting a seed and caring for it until it grows into a tree, our goals need attention and dedication.

Learning from Mistakes

Lastly, making mistakes is part of growing up. When we do something wrong, we can learn from it. It’s like falling off a bike. We get back on and try again until we can ride smoothly. Every mistake is a step towards getting better.

In conclusion, life is the best teacher. It gives us lessons on time management, friendship, kindness, hard work, and learning from mistakes. These lessons are like tools that help us build a good future. Let’s use them well and keep learning every day.

500 Words Essay on Lesson Learned In Life

The importance of making mistakes.

Life is like a big school where every day is a chance to learn something new. One of the most important lessons we can learn is that making mistakes is okay. When we do something wrong, it might feel bad at first, but it’s actually a good thing because it helps us grow. Think of it like riding a bike. The first few times you try, you might fall off. But with each fall, you learn what not to do until finally, you’re zooming around without any trouble. Making mistakes is just like that – it teaches us how to do things better next time.

Sharing Brings Happiness

Another lesson we learn as we go through life is that sharing with others makes us happy. Have you ever shared your lunch with a friend who forgot theirs or let your sibling play with your favorite toy? It feels good, doesn’t it? That’s because when we share, we’re not just giving something away, we’re getting something too – a feeling of joy and friendship. Sharing doesn’t mean you lose; it means everyone wins.

Patience Is Key

Kindness echoes.

Being kind is like throwing a pebble into a pond. The ripples spread out far and wide. When you’re kind to someone, that person is more likely to be kind to someone else. It’s like passing on a smile. You might help someone feel better with just a kind word or a friendly wave. And the best part? Kindness often comes back to you when you least expect it.

Learning Never Ends

The last lesson is that you never stop learning, no matter how old you get. Every day, there’s something new out there. It could be a fact about space, a new word, or even a better way to tie your shoes. The world is full of wonders and mysteries waiting for you to uncover them. And the more you learn, the more you realize how much there is to discover.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

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The Experience that Taught me a Valuable Life Lesson by EDUARDO

EDUARDOof Miami's entry into Varsity Tutor's October 2013 scholarship contest

The Experience that Taught me a Valuable Life Lesson by EDUARDO - October 2013 Scholarship Essay

Everyone has learned a valuable life lesson outside of the classroom. These life lessons might have changed some people’s lives forever. In the beginning of this year, I lived through an experience that changed the way I see life and taught me a very important lesson. I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, a severe illness, teaching me that there are always obstacles that appear in one’s life for a reason and that life just goes on. To begin, I was diagnosed with a severe Ulcerative Colitis, which is the inflammation of the large intestine. Symptoms of this disease included abdominal pain, bloody stools, and fevers. It was the worst news I have ever received in my life. I had to deal with an inflammable bowel disease for the rest of my life. I would always think to myself why I received this disease at such a young age when I am only starting to live. The news was really devastating for me. After I was discharged, I had to deal with this disease, meaning I had to eat healthy, to make sure I don’t get another flare-up. I had to deal with these flare-ups from time to time. These flare-ups were a problem for me in school. I usually didn't participate in extracurricular activities because of flare-ups and was often hospitalized frequently. It wasn't until January of this year that I experienced a severe flare-up after my junior ring ceremony that I was forced to be hospitalized. What was yet to come was the worst part of this obstacle. My gastroenterologist performed some tests for a couple of days and came to the conclusion that I needed to get my large intestine removed and instead have a temporary colostomy bag. He said as well that if the large intestine wasn't removed, I would be at a high risk of getting colon cancer. I decided to get the surgery as I was tired of my frequent flare-ups. In February, I received a surgery which required the removal of my large intestine. After my surgery, I was fine until I had complications after the surgery. My digestive system was paralyzed and wasn't working properly. I was then sent to intensive care following three more surgeries. After three months of recovery, I was finally discharged in the beginning of May. By that time I had lost forty pounds and could hardly walk after being in bed for a long time. I was then home schooled for the rest of the school year and received physical and psychological therapy after what I've been through for four months. This experience was the most unique experience I have ever faced in my life. This experience taught me a life lesson that I would have never understood without going through this obstacle. This experience taught me that anything that may affect a person, whether it is mild or severe, may happen for a reason. This lesson taught me that if anything mild or severe were to affect me again later in the future, then I would have look at that situation in a positive manner, knowing that something good will come of it. In addition, this experience taught me as well that life goes on and there will be things that you will have to live with for the rest of your life whether it is a disease or maybe a death of a loved one. I am glad I went through this experience, as it taught me a valuable life lesson that I would have possibly never understood without this experience.

3 lessons about what really matters in life, learned in the pandemic

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The last year has been like no other.

Since March 2020, every person on the planet has had their life shaken by the COVID-19 pandemic in some way. In the midst of the hardship and challenges, there’s been the sense among many people that this period has helped us evaluate our lives and focus on what’s truly important.

And maybe, just maybe, we’ve learned something from this moment.

In response to the pandemic, StoryCorps — a nonprofit dedicated to recording the largest collection of human stories and winner of the 2015 TED Prize — created StoryCorps Connect , a new tool to bring together loved ones via video conferencing and record the audio of their conversations.

Below are excerpts from a handful of the thousands of interviews recorded in recent months through StoryCorps Connect.

Lesson #1: The pandemic has helped us find deeper meaning in our work

Two mail carriers see the value in every delivery they make

Before getting a job as a mail carrier in Palm Beach, Florida, Evette Jourdain was going through a hard time — she’d lost her father, her brother and then her home. Finding reliable work helped tremendously, but then came COVID-19.

As Jourdain talked to her coworker , fellow postal worker Craig Boddie, she shared how she was feeling. “My anxiety levels are always on 10,” she says. “I pray on my way to work, I pray on my lunch break, I pray when I’m at the box. What keeps me going is just the fact that I need to keep going.”

Boddie agreed. His wife has autoimmune disease, and as he puts it, “Every day I wake up and wonder, ‘Is this the day that COVID-19 is gonna come home with me?’”

But he also knows that his work is more important than ever, and he thinks about how each package he carries contains something to keep people afloat in some way. “We’re like a lifeline — getting these people their medicines, their supplies.”

A health care provider gains inspiration from a classic novel 

Josh Belser and Sam Dow are good friends who grew up in Tampa, Florida, and who now both work in healthcare 400 miles apart — Belser as a nurse in Syracuse, New York, and Dow as a health technician in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

And with COVID-19, they’ve both found themselves on the frontlines. “My floor was one of the first that was converted to strictly dealing with COVID patients. Our jobs changed like overnight,” says Dow in their StoryCorps conversation. “There was no dress rehearsal — the numbers started to go up and it was show time.”

So how did they get through? Dow tells his friend he found some inspiration in Albert Camus’s classic novel The Plague . “It’s about an epidemic, and the main character was a doctor,” he explains. “And he says the way to get through something like this is to be a decent person. Somebody asks him, ‘What makes a decent person?’ He says, ‘I don’t know but, for me, it’s just doing my job the best way I can.’”

Dow says he’s tried to do exactly that. “Hopefully I made a difference in people’s lives.”

Lesson #2: Family rhythms have shifted, but our ties are as important as ever

A grandmother takes strength from her ancestors

Like so many other people, COVID-19 took Jackie Stockton by surprise. One day, she was at her church in Long Beach Island, New Jersey, celebrating her 90th birthday — and the next thing she knew, she was in the hospital. What’s more, she was part of a community cluster, and five members of the church eventually died from the virus, including Stockton’s best friend as well as her son-in-law.

Stockton spoke to her daughter , Alice Stockton-Rossini, about these losses. She says, “I remember 9/11 as though it just happened, but then it was over. This will never, ever be over.”

As a way to cope, she finds herself thinking of her great-grandmother. “She lost half of her children. She lived through the worst kind of hell,” she recalls. “She was an amazing woman, and so was her husband. They just did the things they needed to do. And they survived.”

The pandemic brings together a mother and daughter

In 2005, attorney Chalana McFarland of Atlanta, Georgia, was convicted of mortgage fraud and sentenced to 30 years in prison. The judge hoped this harsh sentence would deter others from similar crimes, but it had severe consequences for McFarland’s 4-year-old daughter, Nia Cosby.

In 2020, with the onset of COVID-19, McFarland was transferred to home confinement. Upon being released, the first person she saw was her now college-age daughter. In a candid conversation during their first weekend together in 15 years, Nia describes their reunion as “one of the best moments of my life.”

McFarland agrees. “When I left, you were driving a Barbie car, and now you’re flexin’ in the Honda Accord,” she says. “We’ve had a relationship over the years, but it’s like pieces of a puzzle that we’re just now putting together. I can’t wait for you to discover how much alike we really are, because you haven’t really gotten to know who I am. But I see so much of me in you. Out of all the things that I’ve done in my life, you are the absolute one thing that I got right.”

A canceled reunion highlights the power of family stories

The Quander family has a long history in the US. Its matriarch, Nancy Carter, was one of 123 enslaved people owned by George Washington, and she was freed in his will. She later married Charles Quander, and in 1926, their descendents held the first Quander family reunion.

It took place every year since 1926 — until now.

“This one would have been the 95th reunion,” Rohulamin Quander, 76, tells his 18-year-old cousin , Alicia Argrett.

In lieu of gathering in person, Argrett asks him: “What would you like to pass on to me?” His reply: “That you are the keeper of the stories.”

Argrett appreciates his call to take this responsibility seriously. “As we’ve seen this year, you never know when your last [family reunion] could be,” she says. “I think it’s important to capture those opportunities while you still have them in your grasp. And I’m going to do what I can on my end to keep the spirit of the family alive.”

Lesson #3: Small gestures have a huge impact on our well-being

This pandemic led to the best date of her life — a staircase apart

As the director of microbiology at a hospital in Rochester, New York, Roberto Vargas’s job is to diagnose infectious disease. With his lab running constant COVID-19 tests, he needed to isolate himself from his wife, Susan Vargas, and their four children.

Initially, he stayed in a hotel but found it too lonely. So he moved into the family’s basement, stipulating that no one else was to go beyond the top of the stairs. One night, as the Vargases recall in their conversation, a coworker brought them all a home-cooked meal. “You sat at the bottom of the stairs in a rocking chair, and I was at the top. It was the first time we had been able to connect in so long,” says Susan.

This simple moment, she says, helped get her through the months of the pandemic, and it will forever be what she remembers most from this time: “As crazy as it sounds, it’s the best date I’ve ever had with you in my life.”

Mother and son reflect on a special, shared memory

In 2015, nine-year-old William Chambers went to work with his mother. Not to an office, but to a senior center near Boston, Massachusetts, where Ceceley Chambers works as an interfaith chaplain providing spiritual counsel to those with memory loss. Ceceley knew the seniors would enjoy spending time with a young person.

What she didn’t expect was for William to sit down at a table with a woman cradling a baby doll she thought was real, and talk to her as easily as if she were his friend. “You just jumped into her world,” she recalls.

As Ceceley continues her work during the pandemic, both she and William have been thinking about that moment a lot. Although the structure of her days hasn’t changed, she’s seeing much more fear in those she’s counseling. William says he has been working hard to cultivate empathy for whatever mood she comes home with. Thinking of that woman with the doll and the other patients helps him.

He adds, “They made me think you should enjoy life as much as you can, ‘cause it doesn’t happen forever.”

Want to record an interview with a loved one — nearby or far away — about their experiences during the pandemic? Here’s how to get started . You can also explore more StoryCorps stories here .

Watch StoryCorps founder Dave Isay’s TED Prize Talk here:

About the author

Kate Torgovnick May is a journalist and writer based in Los Angeles. A former storyteller at TED, she has worked with the ambitious thinkers of the TED Prize and Audacious Project, helping them share their stories in video and text. She's also the author of the narrative nonfiction book, CHEER!: Inside the Secret World of College Cheerleaders, and has written for the television series NCIS and Hellcats. Read more about her work at KateTorgovnickMay.com.

• society and culture

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Creating a contract -- yes, a contract! -- could help you get what you want from your relationship

Could your life story use an update? Here’s how to do it 

6 tips to help you be a better human now

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The art of storytelling, according to the founders of StoryCorps and Humans of New York

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How to unlock your family history

Home — Essay Samples — Philosophy — Meaning of Life — Finding the Purpose: Why is Life Important

Finding The Purpose: Why Life is Important

• Categories: Meaning of Life Purpose Trust

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Words: 1987 |

10 min read

Published: Nov 26, 2019

Words: 1987 | Pages: 4 | 10 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, why life is important, works cited.

• Burnet, C. (n.d.). Only I Can Change My Life. [Quote]. Retrieved from Goodreads website: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/8938229-only-i-can-change-my-life-no-one-can-do
• Keller, H. (n.d.). Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it. [Quote]. Retrieved from Goodreads website: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/86764-although-the-world-is-full-of-suffering-it-is
• Pele (n.d.). Success is no accident, it is perseverance, learning, sacrifice, and most of all loving what you're doing. [Quote].
• Purpose Guide. (n.d.). The Importance of Finding Purpose in Life.
• Purpose Fairy. (n.d.). 15 Powerful Lessons I've Learned from Life.
• Segerstrom, S. C., & Vohs, K. D. (2009). Managing resources: Dual-task performance and resource allocation in normal adults. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 138(1), 101–126.
• Seneca. (n.d.). Life is too important to be taken seriously. [Quote]. Retrieved from AZQuotes website: https://www.azquotes.com/quote/1136886
• Silvia, P. J. (2006). Exploring the Psychology of Interest. Oxford University Press.
• Wong, P. T. P. (2014). The Human Quest for Meaning: Theories, Research, and Applications (2nd ed.). Routledge.

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"Tony taught me the most important lesson in my life" - admission essay

HeyJude92 2 / 3   Nov 30, 2009   #2 It's a beautiful essay and I really like your way of writing. The only error that I can point out is that you wrote "baseball head covered his head" It's really good though :) Read mine?

lissc6 2 / 7   Nov 30, 2009   #3 all that I mattered Tony's disease had robbed him o f his right leg Its so inspirational keep it up :)

OP hippiemarly 1 / 1   Nov 30, 2009   #4 thank you to both of you :D thanks for catching that baseball head what a silly mistake :P here is a revision! thanks for all the help:D

vananhdo 1 / 5   Dec 4, 2009   #6 it's really really really beautiful. However it would be so much better if you could describe a little more about Tony's effort to walk again.

yang 2 / 313   Dec 6, 2009   #7 Kevin, dunno if you'll read this, but is it irony? cuz i read these two sentences as generic statement that are simply word filing transitions, compared to some other ones: "I stammered" nice use of word! and the complete thing, powerful and idk if you notice, but this essay has wayyyyy too many tony taught, he taught. it might be parallel structure, but... 1 or 2 is PLENTY. especially when "he taught" isn't particularly fancy.

yang 2 / 313   Dec 6, 2009   #9 lack of colorful words in some places well, i'm not critiquing the lack of colorful words, cuz i myself don't write that many colorful words. What I'm saying is that generic sentences without outstanding vocab is even worse than really well written generic sentences kevin, you mind editing my essay? pllz help me out.

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