Oh how people love to tell us to ‘play safe’, if we don’t want to wreck our lives that is. Everyone is like a walking talking encyclopedia of life lessons, teaching us all about how we should live our lives; ironically I’m doing the same thing now. Here are 11 ‘truths’ people around us have been repeating like parrots which might as well be ‘lies’:
1. “You’ll only do ‘well’ in life if you do well in school”
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This is probably one of the most popular lies that parents and adults in general love to spoon-feed us to potentially overhype the importance of our school lives. Nope, schools don’t necessarily decide what or how we’ll do in our lives, and they certainly don’t decide our ability to contribute to society or lack of it. It all comes down to you, and how much you’re willing to work for what you want; life is simple like that.
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2. “Life is too complicated”
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Let me ask you something, what isn’t complicated? Ultimately life is as complicated as you make it, and trust me on this, it’s not too hard to keep it simple. Yes, we all have our bad days, but people make it sound worse than it actually is.
3. “Being single in your 20s is a nightmare so you should get a partner ASAP”
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I don’t get the obsession people have with dating for the sake of dating, and confusing being alone with crippling loneliness. Here’s a thought, just maybe, people could live on their own without crying for companionship 24×7?
4. “You absolutely have to get married by the time you’re 30”
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Nope, nope, just nope. Again, people make way too much of a deal about companionship than they should. And besides, why not just live with someone instead of dropping an anchor on your life, dreams and expectations just because you’re feeling lonely?
5. “Your 20s will be the most exciting years of your life, following which you’ll have to get practical and boring and settle.”
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Again, this depends upon a host of factors ranging from your own life choices (which can be as varied as it gets), how adventurous you are, and a very few environmental and other factors which you can do nothing about. So go ahead, plan your 20s and 30s right now in advance so you don’t end up being too lazy to enjoy life!
6. “You won’t end up being happy in the remaining years of your life if you aren’t ‘successful’”
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I honestly have no idea what people talk about when they bring up ‘success’ into conversations; it’s this really elusive and vague word which fits everything someone can possibly want. And frankly, I’m a man living in the 21st century, and I don’t have the time or the energy to waste on hyper unrealistic goals to please people around me. I’d rather be ‘mediocre’ and happy than invite fairy tale dreams into my life.
7. “Talent doesn’t matter in the long run, hard work does”
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This very statement is the embodiment of making-shitty-arguments-from-skewed-definitions; it implies that talent is some extra special quality in someone from the moment they were born, which just isn’t true. A lot of hard work goes into ‘talent’, most of which people don’t get to see. They’re just pleased to see the tiny ice cube above the water, but none of them see the ice berg beneath. Talent is a direct product of when intense passion and days and weeks and months of hard work come together, and it’s nothing to be taken lightly.
8. “You can’t be a square peg in a round hole”
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You don’t have to force yourself to fit in, you do not have to conform. Everyone’s ridiculously different, despite how you might clump them into the ‘herd’. You’re different in different ways, and people really won’t mind if you don’t hop into the bandwagon. Just, try not to be a douche about it.
9. “Academics aren’t everything, you need to be practical about life”
Our parents make it sound like we’re going to starve on the footpaths if we don’t take up lucrative careers like those in Medical, Law, or Engineering. Maybe, just maybe, the countless academics who are well off and happy on their own, living lives they’ve always wanted, researching and learning new things they love every day, just maybe, they’re a good enough statistic to come to the conclusion that this might be a lie? I think it is, at least.
10. “Video games are for kids”
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Oh yes, I love how people with ‘experience’ in life immediately go back to watching Fox News or stupid soap operas after dropping 100 kilotons of wisdom on us. Video games are beautiful distractions, better than most other media I feel, because they’re user interactive. I can already see myself in my late 20s taking a day off just to play my favorite games from back in the day.
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11. “Relationships are bound to get sour”
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I won’t lie, I held similar opinions; once upon a time. But, relationships are like tending to your flowers, you take too much for granted because you’re way too comfortable with it and it slowly goes into the inevitable downward spiral. The more you care for something, the longer it lasts, and this applies for everything including relationships. So, use your 20s to hold on to something dear to you, and don’t let stupid ‘truths’ ruin a perfectly good match.
Everyone’s practically a life guru now (which includes me), but the bottom-line of this is you cannot allow someone else’s experience decide yours. Your life can be amazingly different, only if you want it to, and work at it. So stop reading stupid articles on how to live your life, and do what you feel is right. If you’re feeling adventurous, try not walking on the beaten path. You might just be astonished with the results! 😀
Also, don’t forget to tell us of the life lessons you found out weren’t true!
Featured image source: attractionmentor
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