Best Advice I’ve Ever Gotten From My Mom
She gives me advice nearly every day and has taught me things in 21 years that some people don’t learn in their entire lifetimes
By: Shannon Brault
I’ve been in one official romantic relationship in my life so far, and it was not a pretty one. When it was all said and done, I remember my mom making cinnamon rolls to surprise me the next morning. I was bawling to her, saying, “the worst part is, I don’t know what real love is, and I don’t know if I’ll ever find it.” She responded to me, saying, “real love is how I treat you; that’s how you’ll know,” and that has stuck with me in the nearly five years since.
My mom and I, luckily, have a good relationship, and I am beyond thankful for that because it wasn’t always that way. She has been an instrumental soundboard for me with the advice she gives me (or that I force her to give me) daily. I can’t think of a major decision I’ve made that I didn’t go to my mom with until I was blue in the face asking her what I should do.
In those situations, she will often respond by saying she can’t make the decision for me because I need to do what’s best for me. What she will do is either give me advice or remind me of things she has said before, had to do before, or things that I have done before as a form of guidance.
Life is tricky and unpredictable, but my mom has taught me things through her actions and her advice that have taken my whole life up until now to learn, and sometimes I still struggle with it.
She has taught me that you don’t need to stay in a toxic environment.
She loves to say that people come into your life for a reason, season, or lifetime, but they always leave you with a lesson.
She always says not to hate anyone or anything because hatefulness only hurts you in the end.
My entire life, she has been telling me to follow my gut—which is a simple one but has done
wonders and has taken me a long time to get there.
How people react to your presence and to what you say or do is not your fault and has nothing to do with you.
She reminds me to always listen more than you speak.
Perhaps one of the hardest to remember: never send a text or email when you’re angry.
Be kind to everyone because you don’t know what they’re going through.
You can be a kind person with a good heart and stand up for yourself when people are being mean to you. You shouldn’t let people take advantage of your kindness.
She used to have her three kids recite these two poems, “I’m Happy Being Me” and “It All Depends on How You Think” by Walter D. Wintle, that were around our house as a reminder to be ourselves and to be positive. If anything self-deprecating came out of our mouths, we had to recite it.
She’s told me for years that comparison is the thief of joy and that nothing is permanent.
She’ll tie all of this up with a hug and blow a kiss. Sometimes she’ll add an “I love you all the way around the world and back, a million, billion times again,” which she used to sing to us when we were kids.
I also have gotten some amazing guidance and continue to seek out advice from mother figures in my life because moms come in all forms and at all stages of life. Your mother doesn’t have to only be your biological one, but it could be an adopted mother, a second mom, a grandma, an older friend, etc. However, this one is for my biological mom and the things she has advised me through. I don’t know how to thank you enough, so I hope this article will serve as a start.