Growing up, we all sought knowledge from our elders. We believed, maybe just for a short time that they had all the knowledge in the world, and that you could ask them anything and learn it, no matter what. I know I certainly felt this way about my parents and my grandparents. Anytime I saw them do something or say something new to me, it only fed the belief that they'd all the answers.
Turns out, that was mostly true.
I learned more about life and adulthood from my loved ones then I ever would have imagined to become possible. As an adult, I often reflect back on the lessons my family taught me. It felt like I was always seated somewhere with my dad going over his many “isms” by what he believed made up a good person, whether that was the significance of buying fresh vegetables at local markets or buying your books secondhand. I carry many of those words with me now being an adult making my way through the tough and troubling world.
Of course, I additionally learned a great deal about the world from my teachers who educated me in that spiritual growth resides in reading or that math encompasses us and music can be created with the wind. But the lessons I gained from my relatives truly grew beside me and are now values which i uphold every day.
Your Parents Taught You Nearly Everything
The most apparent informers of my adulthood were my parents, for very clear reasons. They are the adults that you simply arguably spend the most time with like a kid, and they influence really your behaviors than you might have previously thought.
You see, when my father was teaching me how to drive a car for the first time, I thought in that moment that he only agreed to be teaching me how to drive. Works out, he was teaching me about survival skills, about self-care, he was teaching me caution and defensiveness. He being teaching me how to consider and care for people around me who I might not even know.
When my mother sat me down when I was 18 to go over all of the methods available to me for affording university, I thought she was just teaching me about affording university. In reality, she was teaching me about fiscal responsibility, debt, budgeting, research, finding resources and so much more.
I look back on purchasing my first cell phone with my dad and think, man, I got the new iPhone, and it am cool. But, in actuality, my father was teaching me concerning the importance of communication, technology, and responsibility for oneself and one's expenses.
I wasn't just growing up learning skills, I was becoming an adult learning values. These values now play a crucial role in my decision-making as an adult as well as how I view my place in a world filled with people.
The Oddities From My Sisters
I was shocked when I realized the abundance of valuable information I gained from my siblings. Mostly my sisters, however my brothers contributed to my education too. My baby brother maybe didn't teach me things meaning of an elder teaching you new things, but he certainly helped me learn how to care for people younger than me and how to put others above myself – a lesson I'll always thank my baby brother for.
My sisters really taught me the value of myself, of being a lady and of maintaining self-esteem and self-efficacy. When I had my first “bad” relationship, where I wasn't receiving treatment the way I wanted, my oldest sister educated me in about valuing myself and deserving more than what I get from boys.
I also have the infamous hippy sister – the free spirit, wild child. She was always travelling and meeting amazing people becoming an adult. She got to have all of these amazing adventures due to the free soul that she was. She educated me in the values of being healthy – both physically and mentally. She taught me about balance and love, acceptance and regulation.
Grandparents Are Old-fashioned but Still Relevant
Despite being out of touch, culturally, my grandparents always had life lessons to see me to help me grow into a far more well-rounded adult. Aside from learning the worth of walking to school, working at 10 and eating grits, my grandparents also taught me some things that I still carry with me today.
I remember starting high school. My grandma came over for breakfast on the first day to determine us off. She sat me down and said, “Honey, you're in high school now. So people are gonna pressure you to smoke.” She had this lingering fear which i would turn into a smoker, like she did at this age.
She warned me of the effects of smoking on your teeth, even going as far as showing me pictures from a dental magazine. Aside from the obvious “don't smoke” agenda she was pushing, I additionally gained the much-needed lesson of learning how to care for your body and making choices that benefit your wellbeing instead of deteriorate it.
My grandpa educated me in more than I could ever start to write in a single story. He showed me how to change my oil, how you can chop down a tree and the way to take care of a dog properly. He educated me in how to till soil, how to tie knots, how to feed pigs and the way to rotate my tires. He even taught me how to grow marigolds. In all of these lessons, I gained an important value. The value of hard work, of self-reliance and efficiency.
My grandfather had so many skills, and it really taught me how to be better adult and the way to gain more experience in the world. Surprisingly, he educated me in the most about the power of the feminine body and mind and the abilities we have despite being torn down constantly.
I know that my life is far from over, and that I have many lessons to continue gaining knowledge from professionals, peers, and coworkers, but I am so happy to have been able to gain so much valuable insight in the small amount of time that I was living among family. Standing on my own certainly means determining more for myself, but with no insight I gained growing up with some of the greatest people I understand, I doubt I would be as successful at life as I am today.
