Lifestyle

9 Words Of Wisdom In Living A Full Life From Our Grandparents

by Sheena Amin

Everyone gets to be young, but not everyone gets to be old.

Grandparents can serve as role models because they simply know more about life than we do.

They have already crossed the phase of life we are going through right now, and can offer some sound advice on how to cope through your younger years.

Here are nine lessons that can be learned from grandparents:

1. Be yourself!

Grandparents know who they are. They do whatever they want and get away with it simply because they have lived life long enough to know they don’t need to impress anyone.

We don’t need to wait our whole lives to just be ourselves.

2. Genuine Wisdom

Grandparents willingly give advice for the sole purpose and intent of helping us. They care and want to help out because they have also learned and had plenty of experiences from which to give you advice and genuine wisdom. 

Consider taking their advice.

3. Unconditional Love

Grandparents teach us about life and even more about love. I am just 23 years old, but the reason I know this is because I’ve seen this unconditional love.

Share unconditional love with others.

4. Experience

We are all different; each of us has a unique life. Think for a moment about what has happened in your life so far.

Now multiply that by at least 50, and you’ll begin to see the value in an elder’s life experience.

Grandparents have made their fair share of mistakes and faced the consequences of them. They can teach you how to avoid the mistakes they made, so you may not have to go through the same experience.

5. Priorities

Grandparents guide you in planning your life out because they already know what should be set as a priority and what shouldn't be.

It may get irritating, but they have faced the things you are going through now, and have attained knowledge about them with age.

Think about it: We tend to make social media our priority, when we should reconsider and give other people or things more importance.

Grandparents didn't have Google, Wikipedia, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. and they still managed to survive. Props to them.

6. Perspective

I absolutely love listening to grandparents ramble about amazing incidents in their lives. It gives me insight on how life was during their time.

It is helpful knowing why things are the way they are in the present time; it gives perspective. Take the time to listen to understand their different perspectives; it just might change your own.

7. Family Values

When you take advice from grandparents, you learn about family values, such as respect, honesty and forgiveness.

These values will help you to solidify your personal family bonds, as well as teach you the importance of cherishing your loved ones.

8. Acceptance

Grandparents are way better at accepting difficult situations and disappointments in life. They simply know life must go on.

They help you cultivate acceptance, despite the mishaps that come your way. After all, they made it this far, and all they want is the same for you.

9. We are only getting older.

We need to realize one day, if we're lucky, we might be in their shoes. This is why I stress how we must treat our grandparents with the same love and respect we want when we get older.

Have the utmost love and respect for not only your grandparents, but also all elders unrelated to you. I want to recognize and celebrate the sophistication and foresight to this journey of life offered by our older generations.

We are so busy growing up, tending to our own lives, we often overlook the fact that others are growing old.

As I grow older, I hope I’m fortunate enough to show off my wrinkles and let everyone know how happy I am, what I made it through and how wise my older generations made me.