Although school is often painted as a place that doesn’t offer positive experiences, it can be an environment where we can find a lot of value. It’s just that many of these lessons aren’t always obvious or immediately useful.
However, if you look beyond the surface, there are many ways to see and take in these lessons every day. Some of the most influential lessons don’t even come from a traditional school setting. Here are 5 unconventional lessons you can learn from going to school:
People can change
One of the most important life lessons that you can learn from school is how to cope with change. If you’ve ever been to school, you’ve probably experienced this firsthand. Change can be stressful, and it’s normal to feel anxious about it. However, this anxiousness only makes things worse.
Anxiety makes it harder to cope with change because your brain is working harder than it needs to. As a result, it can lead to negative thoughts and feelings, like worry, frustration, and stress. Because change is inevitable, the only way to prepare yourself for it is to accept it.
Once you accept that change is inevitable, you can take steps to deal with it better. One way to do this is to have a predetermined “change box.” Put some of your favorite books in there so that you have something positive to look forward to when the change occurs. This approach can help you prepare for the change while reducing your stress levels.
Life’s not fair
Schools often teach us that life is a competition, but that doesn’t mean that life is fair. This can be a difficult lesson to learn, but once you do, you’ll find that you can live your life better. When you’re young, especially during middle school and high school, it’s easy to get caught up in the idea that life is fair.
You may even start to believe in the fairness of it. Unfortunately, this doesn’t help you in any way. It can cause you a lot of unnecessary stress. If you believe that the world is a fair place, you’re going to be more stressed out when things aren’t fair.
Life is unpredictable
Another important lesson to learn from school is how to be more accepting of unpredictable things. When you’re young and in school, you learn how to predict and plan for things. This can come in handy for lots of situations, like when you need to get ready for a big test or project.
However, when it comes to life in general, you can’t predict everything. Even if you try to predict it, life is still unpredictable. This means that when things happen that you didn’t expect, you’re going to have a much higher stress level. With high levels of stress in your body, you’re not going to be able to perform as well in class or handle your responsibilities as well.
The world is a lot bigger than you think
Schools often teach you that the world is a small place and that people are connected. Although these are great lessons, they don’t tell you how open the world is. For example, you may live in a very small town, but the whole world is connected.
This means that, even if you’re isolated in your town, people in other parts of the world are connected to you. This can be encouraging, especially for people who feel isolated. When you feel isolated, you may think that the world is a much smaller place than it is. This can cause you a lot of unnecessary stress.
You shouldn’t take yourself too seriously
Schools and other institutions often teach you that you should take yourself seriously, and put your values on a pedestal. While this is a good lesson, it shouldn’t be taken to an extreme. You don’t need to take yourself so seriously that you forget to have fun and enjoy life too.
Schools often teach you that the world is a serious place. When they don’t teach you that there are many different ways to take yourself seriously. For example, you can take yourself seriously as a student or take yourself seriously as a human being. You can also take yourself seriously in terms of your values like friendship.
There are no dumb questions
Schools and other institutions can be great platforms for asking questions and learning new things. Unfortunately, they can also be places where people are judgmental and express a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy around questions. This can make asking questions feel intimidating. When you ask a question that a person doesn’t want to answer, you may feel embarrassed or judged for asking.
However, these feelings shouldn’t stop you from asking questions. What’s more, you shouldn’t feel bad for asking questions. Schools and other institutions are great platforms for asking questions. However, they can also be places that make you feel bad for asking questions. This isn’t fair, and you shouldn’t let it stop you from asking questions.
Wrapping up and Conclusion
School can be a valuable place to learn a lot of life lessons. However, many of these lessons are unconventional, and unconventional at that. This can make school feel like a pretty unusual place to learn these types of lessons.
For example, the world is a lot bigger than you think, people can change, life is unpredictable and the fairness of life is not fair. These unconventional lessons can be difficult to unearth, and some people may even question their validity. However, once you discover them, they can help you lead a much more fulfilling life.