Things I wish my parents had told me (or I wish I had listened to if they did)

I had a good childhood, I've mentioned that once or twice before over at the family blog and yet the way I was raised left a few areas of my life strangely lacking in knowledge and so I present to you things I wish my parents had told me... or I wish I had listened to if they did.

1 Good things happen to bad people.
Over the past few years I have watched bad people get stronger, get richer and get everything that they want without a toss about who they hurt to get it. I've seen people struggle with absolutely nothing because they are sticking to the rules. What lesson do I learn from this? Stay being a good person, sure they might have to struggle but they never lose the good in them oh and revenge plots are great fun to think up.

2 There is no Happily Ever After.
So you get married and have babies and live happily ever after just like a Disney Cartoon. Yeah, that doesn't happen. Marriage and family life takes a lot more than a fairytale wedding to set up a lifetime of happiness. You have to work at it, be open with each other, communicate, set goals, reset goals and be honest and even then it might not work out for you. Happily Ever after isn't about having everything perfect, it's about working together and being happy together.

3 Life is what you make of it.
If you want something to happen in your life then you best get on with planning it. Sure sometimes things drop in to your lap but for the most part you have to push yourself to work harder, get better at what you do until finally one day you reach your end goal. And then it starts again with a new goal, just make sure that whatever you do it makes you happy.

4 Learn from your past but then let it go.
Everyone has a past and can remember a time where they succeeded and there is normally a regret or two thrown in for good measure. The important thing is that you learn from the mistakes and from the successes of your past but then you let it go. You can't live on past successes and you can't forever think yourself to be doomed because of past mistakes you can change the direction of your life if you want to.

5 Get over yourself.
Self belief is great and needed. You have to believe that you can do what you set out to do, but you're not a genius, you have a lot to learn from others, you aren't better than anybody, you make mistakes and will have to fix them.

So there you have it. What do you wish your parents had told you?