Life Lessons My Mother Told Me

I think most of us became who we are because of our parents, especially our mothers. In a typical family setup, the mother is always the one who stays home, prepare the food and take care of the kids. We may not see it when we were still young but as we grow older, we’ll slowly notice some of the resemblances we have to our parents. We begin to get their habits, peculiarity, behaviours and values in life. I believe that this is also possible for some who are not biologically related but lived with their guardians for a long time.

Most of the advice in life I’ve lived by is from my Mom. I consider her as my teacher, best friend, guardian and sometimes, an enemy. Haha. She’s my hero in life and if I’m going to trade her for anything, I’d rather have nothing than not to be with her. Our mothers are one of the precious gifts we could ever have and they’re irreplaceable.

There are some days that we talk about a lot of stuff and one of those is about life. There so many questions I ask to her and I may not always agree with her answers, I try to understand why she thinks that way. And when it comes to giving good advice, she’s the first person I could think of asking because I know that she’d been through a lot in the past. There’s a saying in Filipino, “pabalik na ako, papunta ka pa lang” which means, “I’m on my way back and you’re just on your way (to success, struggles).” She has a lot of life experiences over me that’s why I believed in her.

Here are some of the lessons I’ve got from her and kept in my mind and heart forever.

Don’t get envy on other people’s achievements, make your own.

My Mom reminds me of how enviousness can ruin one’s confidence. We’re the ones who should control how we see things and try to turn it into a positive influence on us. Instead of getting jealous of other’s success in life, we should challenge ourselves to make our goals into reality as well.

Achieving your dream isn’t too late even you are already old.

Most of us think that once a person gets old, it’s too late already to achieve dreams in life. My Mom has a different mindset of that. She always brags to us about graduating from college in her 30’s. Not only that, but she also passed the licensure exam in just one take and she’s the only one who did that among a hundred students who took the exam from her university. I admired her dedication and perseverance despite all the challenges she faced back then.

Sacrificing some of your goals are necessary sometimes even if you don’t want to.

When something no longer works for us, it’s a sign that we have to let go of it. Some goals aren’t meant for us because something better is coming. If we don’t move forward and just stay on where we are, nothing good will happen to us. If sacrificing is not a choice, then postpone it for a bit and focus on what’s more important.

The more people pin you down, the more you should work hard.

I don’t know if it’s normal for other people to say something that will discourage others. I remembered my Mom saying that those kinds of people are the ones who failed, just accepted it and never fought for it. She always believes that people who try to bring us down are blessings in disguise but it depends on people how they can see it that way. We should be challenged with their words even if their intentions are different. Giving them shots to decide who is going to be and what we are capable of is always up to us.

The money itself can’t always make you happy but the things it can give and do can.

My Mom is ambitious. She always wants to make sure that she has money in her pocket because she knows how difficult it is not to have any. Once, she told me that we shouldn’t get to the point that there’s no more left on our hands. We should always save and spend only on important things. Sometimes, we can treat ourselves but we have to be in control.

Don’t get your success get over your head. Stay humble as always.

This is self-explanatory. My Mom always reminds us that being humble is important to be known by others not only with your fortune and accomplishments. We may already are professionals, but we shouldn’t disrespect people who didn’t get a higher education. Degrading them is unacceptable especially if they’re elders. Being humble is always part of being successful.

Thank you so much for reading!

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