6 Life Lessons Gossip Girl Taught Us
I love Gossip Girl. I love the whole story line, the acting,the characters, the clothes (how could you not?)—everything! What I love bestabout the show is that it had a lot of really good advice and life lessons. Here are six of the lessons that Gossip Girl taught us about life.
“Destiny is for losers. It’s just a stupid excuse to wait for things to happen instead of making them happen.”
One of the most common things I see with people around me is this idea that “things happen” and that you should be carefree. To an extent, that’s true, there are things in life that you shouldn’t stress about. But the things that you really in life, you should be making them happen now, not waiting. If you wait for things to happen, you lose out on time that you can’t get back, and if that thing doesn’t happen, then what?
I hear peers in my classes say constantly “I wish I was better at ____,” and not do anything to try to further their skills and it completely shocks me. If you really wish you could do something, you’d find a way to do it—plain and simple. If you don’t know how to do it, you should be reaching out to someone that can help you. Don’t be afraid to be ambitious; it will help make things that will make you happy happen. Destiny is “the hidden power believed to control what will happen in the future,” and you have the power that controls it.
“You’ve got a good heart. You should give it to somebody who cares.”
There are some people out there who are just so mean. If someone doesn’t appreciate your effort, care, and love, go give those things to someone else. Sometimes we do want to help others and treat them nicely, but if you’re constantly giving someone 100% when they’re giving you nothing in return, it’s time to walk away. It’s difficult to seek out who deserves a piece of your heart in life. It will take time, and that’s okay. Find someone who deserves your heart. A part of it should go to someone that needs help, but you should also remember to keep a piece for yourself too. That piece holds self-respect and self-love—and it’s the most important piece.
“You know what I’m finally learning? You can’t fight against who you are.”
When I first heard this, I disagreed with it a little bit until I really thought about it. I think what people should learn from this quote is this: you are your own person. Each person has different motivations, personalities, interests, and thoughts. You can change your actions and you can speak certain words, but at the end of the day, you are who you are and the only way you can change is if youwant to. If you’re not willing to change for yourself, you’ll be the way you are for the rest of your life.
I think being who you are is a good thing. I like to think that there’s good in everyone, and it’s always there. Deep down, everyone is a nice person and even if they might be a bully to others, they shouldn’t be fighting against the good person they are in their heart.
“One thing I’ve learned through my father’s courtship of Lily is the importance of perseverance, that in the face of true love you don’t just give up –even if the object of your affection is begging you to. And one thing I’ve learned from Lily is the importance of forgiveness. She gave my father the gift of a second chance and in kind I’ve watched them become someone actually worthy of that gift. And one day I hope I’ll be lucky enough to find someone who’ll do the same for me.”
The main thing to take away from this quote is to never give up on something or someone you love and to always give someone a second chance. Giving second chances may not always be the easiest thing to do, but we’re all human and we all make mistakes. We have on days and off days and every day we just need someone who understands that.
“Charm is all well and good but in the real world knowledge is power.”
You might be able to make people feel special—and that is really a wonderful thing—but if you can’t hold an intelligent conversation with someone, you’re not going to go very far. I had a professor in my freshman year of high school tell me, “Beauty fades, but intelligence lasts forever,” and it’s stuck with me for years. She motivated me to want to learn about the class I was in—and my others as well.
Basically the lesson that is being taught here is that sometimes we need to hear harsh things like this to be able to push ourselves further in life. We need reality checks. Feedback from other people is great even though hearing it sometimes isn’t very fun.
“No headbands in college.”
There are rare exceptions to this rule—like beaded/jeweled headbands, boho/lace headbands, workout headbands, etc.—but in general, no headbands. Headbands are adorable when you’re a little girl, but it’s kind of weird in college. In college, usually girls wear messy buns or curl/straighten their hair. College is a time where you’re bridging over into the adult/professional world and in that world, I noticed that there are far less headbands visible.
