16 Very Important Lessons Supernatural’s Dean Winchester Has Taught Me

1. What’s dead should stay dead. Literally and figuratively. Losing loved ones can be the most painful thing you will ever experience, but you shouldn’t meddle in things you know nothing about in an attempt to bring them back. You have no idea what kind of doors you might open, or psychological damage you might inflict on yourself in the process. Also, when friendships and relationships die, give them a proper burial in your heart and allow yourself to heal and move on. Don’t look back. Don’t try to breathe life in to something that is already gone. You have to let go.

2. Daddy issues are gender neutral, despite the stigma. This one is pretty obvious, but men also suffer psychological damage from having a poor or nonexistent relationship with their father. It is sad that anyone has to suffer from a shitty childhood, but it is especially sad that the mental health and resulting coping mechanisms of men in these kinds of situations aren’t often acknowledged or talked about in our society.

3. Don’t mistake loyalty for love. While the two often go hand-in-hand, they are not the same.

4. Blood doesn’t make you family. You gotta earn that. Just because you share the same DNA, and have a similar nose or eye color, it doesn’t mean anything. Family consists of the people who have your best interest at heart and are always fighting by your side, against a world full of monsters and darkness trying to dull your flame. Family feeds your fire. Family gives you reasons to keep burning.

5. Home is where you make it. Whether it be in a car, or the presence of a loved one, home is wherever you feel safe. Home is the one constant in your life. Home is the one place where you can allow yourself to be vulnerable and rest your head for a few hours.

6. Keep your sense of humor, always. There is strength in the ability to laugh your way through whatever shit storm life decides to throw at you this week. Never take yourself, anyone, or anything too seriously.

7. It’s okay to cry, too. Life can be gross. The world can be too much. It’s okay to break down. It’s okay to cry it out. Just remember to get back up and keep going.

8. There are different ways of being smart. Just because you don’t enjoy reading or spending hours doing research in your free time, it doesn’t mean you aren’t intelligent. Street smarts, survival skills, mechanic knowledge, and people skills are all very important and admirable forms of intelligence as well.

9. Bon Jovi is cool, on occasion. Though, it does suck to be wanted, dead or alive.

10. Pie is a delicacy. Pie is something that should always be respected. Everything in moderation, except pie. Eat as much pie as you can, when you can. No regrets.

11. Codependency can be both a strength and a weakness, depending who you lean on. While codependency is probably never healthy, in certain circumstances, it can be beneficial. There is a sense of security in having someone who you know you can lean on, who will always have your back and fight like hell to keep you alive. However, if you lose this person in the process of them fighting to keep you alive, you will lose all will to live, and everything they did will be in vain. It is important that you learn to fight for yourself, too.

12. It’s okay to be different. If you want to rock your dad’s badass leather jacket and listen to cassette tapes in a world of digital music and hyped-up name brands of clothing, then do you. Live what you love. Anyone who tries to kill your vibes can shut their pie hole.

13. Self-Love is a journey. Healing and learning to love yourself after certain traumas can be a hell of its own, but you can’t give up on yourself.

14. Fuck fate. Nothing is set in stone. We are in control of our own stories. Nobody can ever take your pen away from you, but they will try very hard to guide your hand. Don’t let them. #TeamFreeWill

15. Always question authority. And Angels. Also, don’t hesitate to let God know when he’s being a douchebag.

16. Never give up. Keep fighting. When Death comes to take you, kill him instead.