School is a place where you go learn about the world and beyond. It happens inside four walls, with the teacher standing in front of you and explaining stuff. When the bell rings, learning stops! This is how it feels when you are a kid. And I thought the same way.

However, once outside the classroom, I thought life was just life, revolving around home, friends, play, problems, happiness and also fights. That was not learning as I considered it then. I didn’t know at that time that I was learning everywhere without even realising the patterns.

Once, when I was in grade seven, there was a school event. All kids were made into different groups for their respective activities. I was also part of one, in which we were asked to prepare a short presentation and organise a few things for the event. I worked on the slides at home, checked spellings, arranged pictures and even reminded others of their tasks.

I was happy that I would be recognised. Usually, in school, the time and effort given to your studies are shown in your score. But it was not about tests or exams.

On the day of the event, everything happened quickly. One or two people spoke, the presentation ended and that was it. Later, when the teachers talked about the activity, they mentioned the names of those who presented it, but I was not the one presenting. No one said I did bad. But then no one said I did well either.

That was the moment I realised something important. Effort does not always come with feedback or rewards. But they still teach you how to stay responsible even when no one notices you and most importantly, what kind of person you are when there is nothing to gain.

Learning from friendships

The kinds of friendships in school are different from the ones you make outside. You may have neighbourhood friends or friends of friends. Some friends only turn up when they need to go somewhere and want someone to come along, while others want you only for the game, and then some take the most benefit from you.

You learn to deal with all kinds of friends and people you meet in your neighbourhood.

You learn patience

In school, everything has a deadline. You know when the exam is, when the result will come or when the year will end. Outside, you wait for the things. You wait for answers, for replies, for things to make sense. No one tells you how long it will take.

It took me months to learn guitar... my instructor told me all I needed was patience. But my inner restless child wanted to play guitar like Atif Aslam, the very day I bought the guitar.

There is no doubt that being patient with things is really hard, and oftentimes it is painful. Sometimes it takes months to learn something and to earn something, etc., because these are things that have no marked dates. All you need is to keep trying and that’s called patience.

You learn the art of speaking

Our everyday small lessons never stop us from learning how to live. We learn to speak when something feels wrong and when to stay silent. Of course, even as adults, we still misjudge a situation and mess up. Sometimes you have to stay silent and sometimes you must speak.

When I was in primary school, grade five, I remember my friends often stopped listening while I was in the middle of a conversation or interrupted and changed the topic completely. I felt insulted, but because I didn’t know how to handle the situation, I didn’t say a word and tried to feel like everything was normal. It took me some time to understand that I don’t need approvals; I’ll speak if I want to and do what I want to do. It was a slow process, but I learnt.

So the truth is, you are learning every day. And most of the time, you don’t even realise that you are learning important life lessons along the way.

Published in Dawn, Young World, February 7th, 2026