Life Lessons Learned: What Old Television Shows Teach Us About Life

I’m kind of a freak; I hardly ever watch HBO shows, The Jersey Shore, Modern Family or even Glee. Like I said, I’m kind of a freak.

But the reason I don’t venture out into the television arena is the fact that there are so many great, old shows that I just can’t live without. Great, old shows that have given me plenty of hours of procrastination, helped me through breakups and hard times and of course, taught me valuable life lessons.

Life lessons? From Television? Really?

Okay, maybe not VALUABLE, or LIFE LESSONS, but some of my favorite shows like Friends, Boy Meets World, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, The Simpsons and Sex & the City have inevitably taught me a bunch of things that I view as pretty important (or at the very least, entertaining/interesting).

So let’s discuss these lessons from each show and how each has impacted my life and probably yours in one way or another.

Friends: No matter what you go through, your friends are always there for you.

The lesson here is pretty simple: whether you married a lesbian and went through 3 divorces or you ran out on your wedding and you need a place to crash, your friends are always there for you.

If you don’t have friends who will pay your rent when you can’t find an acting gig, let you move in when you accidentally burn down your apartment, or cook you three different types of potatoes on Thanksgiving, what are your friends good for?

Your friends should be down for you no matter what crazy, silly or awkward situations arise; you are there for them and they should be there for you. Friends has taught us that even our family members can become our closet friends so don’t shut them out either!

Boy Meets World: Real love does exist and is an important aspect of life.

While this may seem obvious to some of you, others have to be convinced about the importance relationships play in our lives. A life without love is no life at all and whether we are inspecting the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Matthews or that of Corey and Topanga, I think we can all agree that this show played out relationships as an important aspect of life.

Even with Shawn and Angela or the love missing from Shawn’s life and how that affected him; we all need love and need to love someone so stop holding back in your life or relationships and give in.

Plus, I am super jealous of Corey and Topanga for being so in love, now THAT is the type of relationship to strive for!

The Fresh Prince of Bel Air: Be true to yourself, don’t change who you are.

Yo baby, yo baby, yo! The prince is in the house and he’s proud of it! Even when Will Smith made his way from the streets of Philly to the gated communities of Bel Air, California, he didn’t change how he acted, the clothes he wore and who he was.

Will stayed true to himself even when being thrown into a completely new environment: a prep school with uniforms, a fancy house with a butler, nice cars and lots of cash.

Sure, Will could have thrown out his neon green hat and matching pink sneakers, picked up a Tom Jones album and a cardigan, but he didn’t. He didn’t sell out for anyone and that is the take home message here: be true to who you are because that is what makes you unique and special.

If Will had acted like everyone else, he never would have gotten with Mimi Mumford, Michelle Michaels or Lisa Wilkes!

The Simpsons: Even if your family is weird, they’re still your family and will always be there for you.

There is no other family weirder than the Simpsons, so maybe you should stop crapping on your own family and be thankful your dad isn’t a balding cartoon character or you that you live next door to Ned Flanders.

Even if the Simpsons are weird, what we should realize is that our family is always there for us no matter what! Friends may come in and out of your life and relationships don’t typically last forever, so what do you have left but your family?

So whether your mom makes a weird sound when she’s upset or your dad is an alcoholic with a low IQ, you should love and respect your family no matter what because they are the ones who care about you the most and will always have your back.

Sex & The City: Relationships come and go, but strong friendships last forever.

This is a good one: the biggest lesson I learned from this show is that relationships will always be a part of your life (as will love), but these things typically don’t last.

At the end of the day, no matter how many bad dates you’ve been on or how much you spent on that pair of Monolo’s, your friends are the ones who will stick around through every break up, eviction, pregnancy scare, divorce or round of martini’s.

You can count on your friends to help you out in tough situations and support you in good ones. You know they will be there for you when you’re in the hospital having your baby or when you catch your ex in bed with someone else.

Your best friends will always have your back and be there for you so you should NEVER lose sight of that while in a relationship, no matter how good it may seem because it can always go bad.