Don’t get me wrong, I love the television of now: Gossip Girl, 90210, Parenthood, Glee, and my newest obsession, Smash–but I can’t help but miss the television shows of my childhood. While I watched Lizzie tormet over the expensive jeans fad or even her boy drama, I learned a lot of life lessons from the clumsy yet fantastic Lizzie McGuire.
{1} “You rock, don’t ever change!”
In Lizzie’s school, almost everyone signed yearbooks with the above quote, but I think the quote is more than a clichĂ©, but a mantra we should have. We should be telling ourselves this, collegiettes™. Especially when we think that we are anything but awesome.
{2} You Need Guy Friends to Balance out the Girl Friends
Girls, we all know this: we can sometimes be crazy and all it takes is a snarky comment and passive-aggression, for a girl fight to take flight. We need to have the guy friends to balance out our girl drama; seriously, what would Lizzie have been without both Miranda and Gordo?
{3} Friendships Come and Go
As a sophomore, this lesson seems more pertinent in my life than I expected it would before coming to Princeton. I expected the next time I would experience serious distance with most of my friends would be graduation (2014!) but I have come to find that my friends who aren’t in my classes, do not live in my building, or take part in the same extra-curriculars have all but disappered from my life. From Lizzie’s experiences (especially with Kate, her ex-best friend), we see that ended  relationships (no matter the form) should be appreciated for what they were once before.
{4} Keep an Open Mind
Sure, I may have been rooting for Gordo throughout the series, but I was more than excited when Gordo and Lizzie tumbled into a relationship in Rome. It is easy to write off your male friends and not consider them as potential partners, but I think we often write off individuals that we imagine to be ideal. I’m not suggesting that each and every one of us should convert a platonic relationship into a romantic relationships, but we should be careful to keep an open mind, especially in the matters of love.