2 Life *Changing* Lessons You Shouldn’t Expect Your School to Be Teaching You

You will learn them with time

Schools are there to provide us with academic knowledge in various fields systematically.

Schools teach us how to solve a mathematical formula or what an algorithm is.

They also teach us various lessons about social sciences.

However, they fall short of telling us how to solve real-life problems.

During my educational career, I thought once I completed my degree, a job would be waiting for me, and everything would be too easy.

However, that was ideal thinking of an ideal life.

Practical life was quite different.

1. The School Didn’t Teach Me How to Accept Certain Realities of Life

A loss can be in any form.

It can be death or other social and financial reason that gives you a sense of loss.

When I was 23, I lost my one-year-old daughter.

She died of pneumonia.

The night she breathed her last was the night followed by many sleepless nights and waking days that were worst.

I kissed her on her forehead the last time before I buried her in her small grave.

I didn’t lose her person alone. I lost her smiles.

Whenever she would wake up in the morning, she would give me a lovely innocent smile upon seeing me looking at her.

She would hurriedly jump into my lap every day I would come from the job in the evening.

I had never thought of losing her. Not a single thought. And then, suddenly, she was looking at me, and death took her in a matter of minutes. I was looking at her and then…

Her death shattered our lives. My wife couldn’t bear the loss all of a sudden.

Alas! a loss is always sudden.

I stood firm outwardly to give a little courage to my wife, but deep down, I was broken to pieces.

That was a strange time. I didn’t know what to do to console my wife. I couldn’t speak, and my words got stuck in my throat.

After that, my wife developed psychological problems, and psychologists put her on drugs. She is now fine after five years of treatment.

I consoled myself gradually by reminding myself that I couldn’t control it. Otherwise, I would have done anything for her life.

Her death taught me that there are things in life we can’t control. Nobody can.

Her death robbed me of happiness, but It ultimately provided me with a life-changing lesson.

A lesson I won’t forget in life.

A lesson to accept certain realities of life. Her death taught me how to smile and live with contentment even if you are sad or grieved.

Her death taught me that death is certain.

I learned that people die, relationships die, and other things vanish with time. We can’t control it, no matter what.

The brave thing is to accept what happened and move on. And you would actually move on with life once you know what you can control and whatnot.

2. Everything Needs Time to Mature

After I finished my graduation, I thought I would land a good job.

But practical life was different.

Everything needs skills and experience.

No matter how well you understand your subject, you still have to give time and effort to turn your theoretical knowledge into practical experience.

It takes time to acquire new skills, and it takes more time to take those skills to near perfection.

Even if you don’t achieve that level, you still have to outdo others in terms of your experience and expertise to land a good job.

But above that, you need to learn work ethics.

If you are an expert and highly experienced but lazy and don’t meet the deadlines, nobody is hiring you.

And a well-paying job means financial success.

Even if you earn online, you need years to start a handsome earning.

If you think some people brag about earning six figures and reaching that level in a year or two, they are utter liars. I have seen many writers on Medium here who often tell newbies that they scaled that level just in a year or two, but in reality, they have been in the business for the last decade.

They would also tell you that they just learned things by themselves. Yes, they might have learned a lot of things. But, when you critically analyze their articles and interviews; the discourse tells otherwise.

I believe in one thing. There is no shortcut to success, and life taught me this lesson.

And even if there is a shortcut, it’s only short-lived. You can’t reach a lofty goal using shortcuts.

So, give time for big things to happen. Small things happen in short times. If you want a bang that may surprise the world, you need to be capable of waiting to make it happen.

And that, my boy, needs good enough time investment.

And it’s not passive time, it requires active participation on your part in that time. You must be working committedly and regularly to achieve a level of excellence.

Otherwise, there is no success. I guarantee it.

Final Words

We get a structured education in the schools which is the tiniest part of our lives. The actual learning comes from experiences. When you live through a time, worst or best, it gives you valuable life lessons, and that’s what actual learning is.

Educational institutions have their role in shaping my personality, but whatever I am today, this is because life has brought me here by teaching me how things work in life.

What I have learned from life is far more real and valuable than what I have learned in school.