3 Childhood Lessons We Need as Adults

"Keep making that face and it will stay that way."

"You have to wait an hour to swim after you eat or you'll get cramps."

"Money doesn't grow on trees."

I'm sure you all heard these from your parents a time or two growing up. Yeah, some of them were obviously not true (I mean, I've never met anyone who made a funny face as a kid and it got stuck that way).

As hard as it is to admit, though, our parents were absolutely right on a few things. Now that we're grown up, it seems like a lot of us forget the more important lessons we've learned. Even in adulthood, I think we can use a few of these reminders from our parents:

1. If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all.

This one is actually what inspired me to write this post. Recently I heard good friends of mine were talking trash about my relationship behind my back. There have been a few occasions lately where a blogger openly criticized another blogger on Twitter. As adults, we are quick to judge and criticize each other and bashing things we hate seems easier than finding something positive to say. With so much negativity, I can't help but wonder when we forgot to be nice or just be quiet.

Judging, criticizing others behind their back, calling people out on social media...it all spreads so much negativity and hurts others. If you don't have anything nice to say, just keep it to yourself. Put your energy toward supporting others and spreading positivity...it's much more rewarding.

2. Life isn't fair.

I can certainly remember my parents responding with this many times as a kid. As an adult, I've continued to be reminded over and over again that sometimes life just isn't fair. Just a few years ago, I was eating right and living a healthy lifestyle when a random throat infection threatened my life and left me with lots of issues and medical bills. This is far from fair. I still can't over how I was so healthy and took such good care of myself and something so bad could still happen to me. Do I sometimes wonder "Why me?" You bet. Do I ever feel sorry for myself? Of course.

It's easy to get down on ourselves as adults when bad things happen, when tragedy strikes, or even when things are happening for our peers, but not for us quite yet. Your friend met the love of her life and you can't even go on a decent date. Your college friends are landing their dream job and you haven't even figured out what you want to do yet. It's easy to wonder "why me?" and whine about it, but all you can do is work hard, do your best to get where you want to be and trust that things will happen when the time is right. 

3. You are the company you keep.

Back in high school when my parents were saying this to me, I strongly disagreed. But in high school, you think you have it all figured out and you're convinced that you aren't influenced by anyone. Looking back, yes, my parents were right.  Do any of you have a friend who is a major Debbie Downer? Have you ever had a friend who seemed to bring nothing but stress and drama to your life? Sometimes we don't realize it, but hanging around people like this can have an affect on our attitude and behavior.

I've found that as an adult, I need to pay attention to the types of people I spend my time with. It's important I invest my time and energy into healthy, positive friendships and people who have similar values, interests and goals as I do. Our relationships have a huge impact on us, so sometimes that means distancing ourselves from certain people who bring us down, increase our stress or affect our happiness.

I'm sure we can all agree being an adult isn't all it was cracked up to be. We don't have it all figured out like we thought we would. We even call our parents for advice and appreciate their input, which I'm sure totally makes up for all the times we rolled our eyes as they lectured us as teenagers.

I guess what I'm trying to say is it wouldn't hurt for us to keep these lessons in mind. They are just as necessary now as they were in our childhood.

Would you add any other lessons to my list?