Sunday, February 3, 2013
Whatever
This week and for the rest of the posts on this blog, instead of posting lists of things, I will begin posting things I have learned from life.
Throughout life, everyone is always learning. Some of these lessons come in a classroom, while some of them seem to be taught to you by yourself through experience. In life, we all learn lessons that help to improve our own personal standard of living. The lesson I will relate to you this week is one that I think is very important. It is that sometimes it is better to just think “whatever”.
Caring about things is good, do not get me wrong. But I would contest that it in some situations, simply not caring so much can help you be happier and improve your mood drastically. For example, a long, long time ago, my sister and I used to always get into arguments, usually these happened in the car when we were travelling places. We would always be uber-determined to make the other realize that they were wrong. And I was usually right, but I found that my sister and I got along much better when we were not so prepared to go at it over something that really did not matter.
I remember one time, my family was driving to Salt Lake City, and my parents had bought my sister and I one of those little portable DVD players that you could use in a car. The deal was that we would be allowed to keep it if we didn’t get in an argument in the car. However, we lost the right to use the DVD player very quickly. In fact, it was when we had just left our house. We had grabbed a few DVD’s as we left the house, but what should we watch first? We ended up arguing for a while and my parents returned the DVD player. I will point out that I was only seven when this happened so I lacked the vast amount of maturity that I have now.
My fifth grade teacher used to always say, “In the course of a lifetime, what does it matter?”. In reality, my sister and I had arguments that were so meaningless. We sacrificed having fun with each other because of our pride. We felt that somehow just being right or getting what we wanted would make us happy when, in reality, after the argument was said and done, I don’t think that either one of us was happy. We eventually learned to just let things roll off our back and, when we did this, we stopped arguing though and now Kaitlin and I are very good friends. I have noticed that I am much happier when I just let myself not care so much about things and let things roll off my back, than when I am irritable and let things get under my nails.
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Zach, I think that if every sibling could figure that out, then families would be a lot more peaceful. However, I know exactly where you are coming from. Jennifer and I have had our fair share of fights and arguments. We also have put those arguments behind us and become really close. I almost think that it is because we know how to get under each other’s, it brings us closer together. It also makes for some funny memories of all the stupid things we would fight about. Like you said, when you look back at it now you can only think of the fun memories you missed out on by fighting over meaningless things. However, it is not important to dwell on the past. All that is important is that now we are close and we can look forward to happy times in the future.
ReplyDeleteYour blog reminds me a lot of my siblings and I, especially my younger sister. We over think the situation and make it five times bigger than what it actually is. We have been through the longest road trips and with a single mother she does not have all the patience with us, so she invested in a camper. That was somewhat of a peacemaker. When one of us would get restless and grouchy she would put one of us in the back with a book and with time we would cool down. We have learned so many lessons with experience, and your blog has definitely stated that. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteMy brother and I used to take our fights to a whole new level. We would fight and argue over everything and when we both realized to other was not going to agree it became a fist fight. We had fought like the other just stole our lunch money. My brother and I had always been arguing. We would fight at breakfast lunch and dinner. Plenty of other times in between too. We got in trouble for our pride of being right like it was the last time on earth that we cared about. As my brother and I grew up instead of just taking in that we shouldn’t fight over little things we just started to avoid each other. We have never really cooperated very well, but now that my brother has been out of the same house as me for four years we have learned that we wasted what we could have had and that our pride isn’t everything.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree! What does it matter when you look at the big picture? I too had some sibling action going on. I tend to cause it though. I can’t help it sometimes. I like the taste of contradiction. I suppose there are reasons for that but they don’t matter. Holding on to unity in the family is what is most important. They are your foundation and will hold you up where most wouldn’t. Treat them with care and you will live a love filled life built up from your foundation, the family. Thank you Zach!
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