Valuable Life Lessons

Merriam-Webster defines learning as a lifelong process of transforming information and experience into knowledge, skills, behaviors, and attitudes. In other words, what we learn throughout our lifetime helps shape us as individuals. Although as humans we are capable of making mistakes, it is these mistakes that usually teach us the most about ourselves and often become valuable life lessons. Not so long ago, I learned one of these valuable life lessons in the most unexpected way. What lesson did I learn, you may ask. I learned that sometimes the only way to fully understand what someone is trying to teach you is to experience it for yourself and find out the hard way. My story began my senior year of high school when I started dating this older boy. I had always had a crush on him when he was in school, but always thought he was out of my league. This was a dream come true. But as excited as I was about my new found relationship, my mother did not quite feel the same. You see, my mother is a teacher and teachers always know everything especially when it pertains to the students. Apparently, my new boyfriend did not have the best reputation when it came to adults. However, much to my surprise,

In the beginning, I thought it was great because we could hand out anytime. However, as time went on, I realized that he had no goals set for himself and that he was going nowhere fast. He was very content hanging out with his friends all night and sleeping all day. I tried to talk to him about enrolling in college, and I even asked my parents if they would help him. Unfortunately, he said that he was not suited for college. This again left me feeling very frustrated because I have never been around a person who was not goal-oriented or did not want to better themselves. But as the old cliché goes, I thought love would conquer