Loving someone or being loved by someone is a wonderful thing, but at some point, or another the implementation of tough love is introduced, a type of love that can be hard to handle but very beneficial in the long run. The act of love is a stern action or conversation meant to benefit the person being “lectured.” As a child I always found tough love to be an annoying tactic and one I felt went in one ear and out the other, as I never thought what I was being lectured mattered, but as an adult I can look back on those moments and see their usefulness. 

The person who gave me the most consistent amount of tough love was my grandmother, the mother of my father, she would always instill lessons in my head all throughout my life to ensure a brighter future for me and continues to do so to this day. I now understand that those lectures were all for the benefit of myself and that she lectured me because she cares about me deeply and only wants what’s best for me.  

When I was younger, constantly being met with lectures and tough love annoyed me and I wouldn’t like to sit there through minutes of stories and “boring” words just because I was getting older and would resent these types of conversations about money and college and a multitude of future problems that I never saw the need to discuss at the age of 16 or 17. 

When I was around 18 years old I remember my grandma explaining to me why she would constantly shower me in tough love and she told me that “the reason I was always so hard on you growing up is because I lived through a lot of life, experienced so much and made a lot of mistakes, things I wanted you to avoid so I always lectured you about things like responsibility and work ethic to make sure you would stay on the right path.” Her words resonated with me tremendously and gave me a newfound appreciation for the idea of tough love and for all the love she’s given me and continues to give me.  

I was able to mature and understand the importance of financial responsibilities, credit responsibilities, work responsibilities and family responsibilities all due to the guidance of my grandma, all lessons I plan to keep in my heart and soul, with all the years to come. So, the next time you feel annoyed by tough love remember it’s for your beneficial future.