You are you’er than you

Profound life lessons that you can learn from Dr. Seuss to apply in daily life

You may or may not know this, but Dr. Seuss was celebrated with an award back in 1984 for his remarkable contribution to children’s literature. Theodor Seuss Geisel was a pioneer in his field because his books have helped millions of children across the world to become more productive, feel more motivated and live an overall rich and fulfilling life. Although his works were created primarily for children, us grownups can also learn serious life lessons from the works of Dr. Seuss. Here are some profound life lessons that you can learn from Dr. Seuss to apply in daily life:

‘You have what it takes to make a difference’
The greatest influence that you can have on this world and to others is to make a difference. In Dr. Seuss’s own words from his classic The Lorax, ‘’unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.’’ Dr. Seuss teaches us that everyone in the world matters and that the process of making a difference all starts with caring and taking responsibility for everything around us.

‘Don’t cry because it is over, instead smile because it happened’
Life is characterised by good and bad experiences. However, the bad always seems to last too long and the good doesn’t seem to last long enough, which makes it easier to dwell on the things that weren’t so great or make us sad. When you catch yourself feeling like this, you should try and think about Dr. Seuss’ words in ‘One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish’: ‘Today is gone, today was fun. Tomorrow is another one’.

‘You’re smarter than you think you are’
If you have made it this far in life, you should give yourself some credit and a great big pat on the back. You are smarter than you think you are because of all the knowledge and skills that have managed to bring you this far. If ever you doubt yourself, believe in yourself and your capabilities because there is no telling what the next chapter of your life will look like. To quote Dr. Seuss, ‘’You’re off to Great Places! You're off and away! You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself. Any direction you choose’’. ‘The Places You’ll Go’ is a really great book to read with our growing children as we inspire them (and remind ourselves) to have wings and fly.

‘Always be yourself’
Dr. Seuss’ advice that “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is You’er than You." This quote from ‘Happy Birthday to You’ should remind us all of our value and our worth. It really is okay to be who you are, because the world needs someone just like you.
 

Sally is the Founder of LifeBuddy. She is an Organisational Development consultant and is a Practitioner with the Association for Business Psychology.