College Essay.
The exhaustion is real these days. I’ve been all over the country nonstop over the last couple of months and while I love the travel, boy oh boy it’s tiring. Recently I’ve been trying to come up with some new blog ideas because it’s been too long since I’ve written, however instead of writing, I’m busy binge-watching Friday Night Lights for the first time. (Why are the seasons like 21 episodes long? I was not prepared for this time commitment.) I’m close to done with the entire series and they are currently working on their college essays. It got me thinking. What would I write about if I had to write one now? Well, here goes nothing.
Lessons from My Parents
I consider myself extremely lucky to have two pretty great parents - Juan and Carin. Very different from one another, married for 42 years, and a perfect example of how hard work pays off. Growing up, my mom and dad’s generosity knew no bounds and my younger sister and I wanted for nothing. We went on vacations, had a pile of presents under the Christmas tree and attended private schools that required things like uniforms and expensive extracurricular activities. I don’t say this to brag. I say it to demonstrate that it would have been very easy for my sister and I to get lost in the “stuff” we were fortunate enough to be given. Not all parents have the means to give their children the same tangible items we received growing up but alongside the tangible items came non-negotiable character traits that were required in our household and that every parent can teach their children. Respect, hard work, kindness and gratitude, to name a few.
The lessons we teach our future generations will shape the foundation of our world for the rest of time. While our youth live in a screen-filled world, it’s easy for them to learn bad habits from people they don’t even know. So, now more than ever, it is critical that we also teach them these non-negotiable character traits. And lucky for me, in addition to the non-negotiables, there are a few extra lessons that Juan and Carin taught me.
Lesson number one: don’t sweat the small stuff. When life is hectic, stressful and sometimes frustrating, it can become very easy to sweat the small stuff. The challenge with sweating the small stuff is that it will make life even more hectic, even more stressful and even more frustrating. So let the little things go. Trust me, life will be easier. And steam blowing out of your ears just is not a good look.
Lesson number two: to thine own self be true. Hamlet - Act 1, Scene 3, Line 78: “This above all, to thine own self be true.” Especially now, when it’s easy to compare yourself to others, we must be true to ourselves. No one person’s journey is the same as someone else’s. We think differently, prioritize differently, and evolve differently. If you get lost in that, you’ll lose yourself. This one really stuck with me. So much so, that I have it tattooed on my wrist.
Lesson number three: don’t live above your means. This one is a hard one for me. I want to travel, buy all the nice things, drive the pretty car. But, a whole bunch of debt sucks. So, make wise investments, save your money and think about the distant future, not just what is immediately in front of you. If you do this, your golden years will be a heck of a lot easier, and a heck of a lot more fun.
I don’t have any children of my own, but I imagine raising them is hard. Very hard. You want to give them freedom and independence, but protect them from anything that may hurt them. You want to give them presents and nice things, but don’t want to spoil them. You want them to find their voice and stand up for what they believe in, but want to teach them respect and kindness. I’m proud to say that my parents walked the lines between those things like they were tight ropes. We need to take care of our future generations like my parents took care of me and my sister. Give them the opportunity to thrive in environments where they are set up for success. Teach them the important stuff; respect, hard work, kindness and gratitude. I will carry these and the lessons they taught me for the rest of my life.
There is one final lesson I will leave you with and it is my favorite, which is actually a little more like a rule: after a day of hard work, we eat Mexican food. Write that down.
