In case you didn't catch the lessons this show teaches because you were too busy laughing, here are 10 life lessons from How I Met Your Mother!



1. IF IT’S MEANT TO BE, IT WILL BE



#1 of all the life lessons that anyone can take away from How I Met Your Mother is if it's meant to be, it will be. Throughout the show, Ted is constantly searching for the love of his life so he can get married. As it turns out, after eight seasons, Ted still isn't even close to being married. Thus we learn the age old lesson of it's it meant to be, it will be. You shouldn't go looking for love, love is supposed to find you.



2. LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS HARDLY EVER WORK



Please note that this life lesson is titled Long Distance Relationships HARDLY Ever Work because sometimes they do. However, my personal experience and HIMYM both prove that it is very rare that they work out especially if over a long period of time. In the first season, Ted is dating Victoria who gets offered a fellowship at a culinary institute in Germany. At the airport, Ted and Victoria decide to give long distance a try, both saying that it will work. However, Future Ted tells his kids that it didn't, and that long-distance relationships hardly ever work. In the next episode we learn that Ted hates having to be on the phone all the time and is running out of things to talk about with Victoria. The next life lesson will let you know how the long distance relationship ended.



3. NOTHING GOOD EVER HAPPENS AFTER 2 A.M



This is definitely one of my favorite life lessons that I've learned from HIMYM because I've found it to be so true in my life. In the first season, Ted is in a long distance relationship with Victoria which he feels is starting to fall apart. Meanwhile, Robin finally realizes her feelings for Ted and invites him over after 2 a.m. to "make juice". Trying to decide what to do, Ted remembers a saying his mother used to have: "Nothing good happens after 2 a.m." Believing that Victoria was going to be breaking up with him anyway, Ted goes over to Robin's apartment. When Ted arrives at Robin's apartment, he lies about breaking up with Victoria and they begin kissing. However, when Ted excuses himself to go to the bathroom to secretly call Victoria, he realizes he has Robin's phone and Robin has answered his phone when Victoria calls. Furious that Ted lied to her about them having broken up, Robin gives him his phone telling him to call Victoria back. Future Ted reminds his kids that nothing good happens after 2 a.m. and inevitably loses both Robin and Victoria in one night.



4. THINGS YOU MAY NOT HAVE LIKED BEFORE MAY NOT BE THAT BAD LATER ON



In season one, Ted finds an old shirt he owned for six years but had never previously liked and realizes he now likes it. He later discovers that he likes Bourbon, which he thought he hated. Realizing that his tastes have changed, he decides to reconsider girls he has previously dated but did not seem right at the time. This is definitely a life lesson everyone can relate to. I used to hate eating mushrooms and now I love them! Also, people I used to know from high school and had no interest in being friends with back then, I now talk to on a regular basis.





5. THE FRONT PORCH TEST



In the fourth season, Lily confesses that she has been breaking Ted up with girls who she didn't see passing the "Front Porch Test." The Front Porch Test is Lily's indication of how happy they would all be together once they were old, thus showing if someone's love interest was right for them or not. The life lesson that is learned from this is that the most important people in your life you can imagine sitting happily on a front porch with when you're old and gray. If can also be applied to help you make everyday decisions. Before making a big decision in your life, imagine that you are 80-years-old and sitting on your porch being nostalgic about your life that has gone by. Would you be happy if you chose to be an accountant? Or would you be happier knowing you pursued your writing career?



6. CLUBS ARE TERRIBLE



First off, this is definitely a life lesson for the older young adult crowd. When I was younger, I used to love going to clubs! Now, I'm 23 and I hate them. I would be so much happier hanging out at a bar or lounge then a club. In the first season, Robin has been invited to come to a new dance club called "Okay" to which Ted and Barney agree to come along. I think this is the only TV show episode that has ever shown the truth about clubs and why they are terrible. Ted tries to talk to a girl but can't understand her because of the incredibly loud music, it takes Ted an hour to get a beer at the bar, and Robin ends up not being able to get back into the club because the bouncers at the front of the door switched. In my experience, ALL of these things have happened to me every time I've gone to a New York City club. Save yourself the time and money by heeding this important life lesson.



7. BRUNCH IS FOR COUPLES AND FAMILIES, BUT NOT ALONE



Brunch is a meal time that is talked about a lot on HIMYM as being a favorite. I learned that almost everyone loves brunch, but not everyone can go to brunch. In season two, Marshall is having a hard time coping with being single. He is shown trying to attend brunch alone to which the hostess looks at him funny and Marshall runs out saying "I knew I shouldn't have come!" He starts hanging out with his friend Brad in order to do things that Marshall used to be able to do in a couple. Brad says, "Why can't two Bros go out and rock brunch, Sunday morning style?" Slowly Marshall starts realizing that Brad and him seem like a couple instead of friends with all of their activities. Thus proving brunch is really only for couples... and families, but not alone!



8. ALWAYS CONSIDER THE CRAZY/HOT SCALE



The Hot/Crazy Scale is a graph created by Barney that is used to display someone's hot-to-crazy ratio. Barney explains that a person is allowed to be crazy, as long as they are equally hot. Ideally, you want your date to be above the diagonal line, indicating that they are hotter than they are crazy. Everyone is a little crazy in some way, that's what keeps relationships interesting. But the crazier someone is, the hotter they need to be to get away with it and still be date-able.



9. BODY LANGUAGE WILL TELL ABOUT A PERSON’S AVAILABILITY



In season two, Barney's brother James comes to visit and tells the gang that they are young people living in New York and that they should go out and have fun even though they are all in relationships besides Barney. Once they are all out, the couples realize James is acting strange. He was described as being like Barney only gay, but he is turning down a lot of guys, complaining about his feet hurting him, and generally acting like the couples are who are all sitting down together instead of socializing. When they see James text messaging someone, they realize he is in a relationship. This actually happened to me when I was at a bar in college. I was texting my then boyfriends and sitting down at a booth rather then up and socializing. A guy came over to talk to one of my other friends, and said that I must have a boyfriend because I'm sitting down texting on my phone rather then up at the bar socializing. Using this life lesson you will always be able to pick out

the couples from the single people.



10. THERE IS ALWAYS A CLEAR WINNER AND A CLEAR LOSER



In season three, Robin announces that her former boyfriend Simon plans to meet up with her later on at the bar. The group agrees that every time old friends come together, after not seeing each other for years, there is a clear winner and a clear loser. In other words, someone has done well in real life and someone hasn’t. They begin to tally the points for Robin and Simon's reunion. Robin receives two from Barney for her breasts, one from Ted for Simon still living with his mother, one from Lily because Simon never became a rock star, and a final one from Marshall because Simon now works at a water park that doesn't even have a wave pool. Simon walks in and it is immediately clear that Robin should be the winner: he is balding, overweight, and wearing out of style clothes. I've felt that I've been on both ends of this spectrum. I've been both the clear winner or the clear loser in reunions at least in my mind. It really comes down to how happy you are with your life. If you're happy then you will always feel like a winner.