8 Of The Most Overrated Things You Give Too Much Importance To In Your Life

Life is as beautiful as it is because it allows for near limitless possibilities. There is so much to see, take part in, experience and know. Throughout our lives, we always find things to look forward to, things to get excited about.

Unfortunately, many of these things end up being large letdowns. There is plenty in life that is worth looking forward to and worth trying out. But there are also a bunch of things that are highly overrated. Here are 8 of them:

Growing up.

I'm sure you can relate to being a youngster and wanting nothing more in the world than to be a grownup. I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to go back in time in order to slap that idea right out of my head.

Not to be nostalgic, but imagine how different your experience of life would have been had you stopped looking so far ahead into the future and focused more on the joy at hand that was to be had.

Imagine how different most of our lives would be now if we hadn't learned to always look ahead while we were still so young. We spend most of our lives looking forward, looking to the day that we can have more, do more, experience more. In reality, we can have it all at any moment. We're still too busy looking for a better day.

College.

Not sure there was ever a more overrated institute. It wasn't always this way, but as time progressed and things changed, our educational system refused to adapt.

People didn't seem to bother to realize that our educational system is a living organism in itself -- an organism that must adapt in order not only to survive, but to flourish and to thrive. The fun factor may not have been overrated, but the usefulness of a degree is highly overrated.

Colleges don't have the purpose they once did. College isn't an end in itself, it's a means to an end -- or at least, it's supposed to be. But what happens when the means no longer get you the result you are looking for?

In the case of colleges, not much. People still go, still spend money (more and more each year) and, in the end, are left with not much more than an expensive sheet of toilet paper.

Money.

Those who don't have it, want it and those who do have it, want it even more. We all want money. Again, money is only meant as a means to an end. Unfortunately, people see money as the end goal, when, in reality, that is the worst way a person could ever think.

Money itself has no value -- it's useless. It's the things that money can buy, the opportunities that money allows for, that have value.

Remember: There is more than one way to skin a cat. If the value of money lies outside of the dollar, then maybe there is a smarter way to go about reaching the desired life goal. You can spend your whole life working for money without ever achieving anything worth achieving.

One-night stands.

Sex is great, but only with certain people. With most, it's just eh. Great sex requires a specific combination of physical and mental attraction.

As far as one-night stands go, most of the attraction is purely physical, as we don't actually bother to get to know the individual -- or are physically incapable of doing so thanks to a bottle of vodka. Life isn't as much about quantity as it is quality.

I mean, sure, most people like a bit of variety in their lives, but if all the variety is of the worst quality, then why bother? All sex comes with risks.

Drugs and alcohol.

While an arguably great way to distract and remove yourself from reality, it doesn't do more than just that. People often say that drugs and alcohol make them forget their problems, but the opposite is true.

They may take those things off our minds while we are under the influence, but as soon as we sober up, our problems just creep right back up -- usually with reinforcements.

While indulging in such habits from time to time may be beneficial, getting accustomed to such a lifestyle always does more harm than good. I know how cool it all looked when you were a kid, but so did a whole lot of other things we now know better about.

Working for a living.

Growing up, we were not only taught that it was right or good to work for a living, but rather that working for a living simply was our future.

We weren't given any other option, but told that working for a living is the way of life. While making money and doing something productive for your life is great, it's nowhere near as important or necessary as we were taught. We shouldn't be working for a living, but working for the sake of the work and what the work produces.

Nothing should be done simply because that's what we were always told we ought to do. We're smart enough and in the right time and place to be able to question everything with minimal to no repercussions. Life is what you decide it to be. Don't let people try to tell you otherwise.

Getting married.

Should you find someone to spend the rest of your life with? Sure. But why create a knot that is so complicated to untie? Marriage makes splitting up a headache.

You may be thinking that this is a good thing, deterring people from wanting to break up. But let me ask you this: Has it ever really stopped people from divorcing? Maybe once upon a time -- but that had more to do with religion.

Marriage is a promise to love someone for the rest of your life, avoiding all the philosophical arguments of how ridiculous such a notion is, one may ask why we need a legal document for such a promise. Why not just take the word of the person you love?

Marriage used to be a business deal, but since that has changed, the need for marriage as an institution has diminished altogether.

Vacations.

How can vacations possibly be overrated? Well, it really depends on the vacation and the reason for which you're taking it. From my experience, most people vacation in order to relieve stress and experience a culture different from their own.

Also in my experience, most people who vacation either come back more stressed than when they left or got caught up in tourist traps, never actually experiencing native culture.

If you're going to vacation then be sure that you know why you are doing it and how you ought to do it in order to experience the experiences you are hoping to experience. Otherwise, it's just a waste of time.

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