If there's one thing I know about life, it's this: if you've seen One Tree Hill, you love it. Period. The show premiered 12 years ago, and I've been hooked ever since (I also can't get the theme song out of my head).

Yes, One Tree Hill is a sometimes (most of the time) cheesy, always dramatic television series about two brothers who play basketball. It's about a popular cheerleader and her angsty best friend. It's about high schoolers falling in love and getting married. It's about arson and murder and shootings and accidents and stalkers and kidnapping and teenagers living by themselves which literally doesn't happen in the real world. But there's more to it than that. One Tree Hill taught us invaluable lessons about love, friendship, and redemption.

So yeah, maybe it's just a show you binge-watch on Netflix. Maybe you fell in love with Nathan, Lucas, Haley, Peyton a long time ago. Maybe you've avoided the show like the plague because you think it's just a glorified soap opera. Regardless of where you stand, here are lessons I learned from One Tree Hill that made me a better person.

**WARNING: spoilers ahead**

1. The death of your dreams is not the death of yourself...

If you ever expected things to go smoothly for characters on this show - you're dumb. They all had huge dreams, but the paths to their goals were twisted and riddled with setbacks. We all remember when Nathan's dreams of being in the NBA were crushed by an accident. Basketball was his dream and his identity. He was lost without it. Nevertheless, he decided to fight, because losing your dreams doesn't mean you have to lose everything else. (And don't even try to tell me you didn't cry when he said, "I am Nathan Scott, and I have too much to lose!")

2. ...but your dreams are worth fighting for.

If there's one thing the inhabitants of Tree Hill had in abundance, it was perseverance. They fought for what they wanted. Peyton wanted a record label...so she made her own. Lucas wanted to write a book...so he did. Brooke wanted to design clothes...so she started her own clothing line. The characters knew that to find success, you had to put your heart and soul into your work.

3. Stepping Up

I could explain the concept of stepping up, or I could let Nathan's words do the talking for me: "Stepping up. It's a simple concept. It basically means to rise above yourself; to do a little more, to show you something special....Life's funny sometimes. It can push pretty hard....In sports, they call this stepping up. In life, I call it pushing back."

4. Use your head, follow your heart.

For crying out loud, Peyton's DAD gives us this nugget of wisdom, and it's one of my favorites from the whole series. In fact, I think it's important enough to be painted on my wall....oops.

5. Love is sacrificial.

Okay, I could honestly just say "Naley" and you would get my point, but the truth is that every single character loves fiercely. Rachel turns herself in for cheating so Brooke doesn't get in trouble, Whitey takes a coaching job at a junior college so Nathan can play basketball, Keith literally sacrifices his life for others, Brooke takes in an orphan...as messed up as they can be, these people will drop everything when someone needs help.

6. The place you come from doesn't determine who you become.

Talk about some crappy parents...the teenagers in Tree Hill were basically self-sufficient because their parents were too self-absorbed to help them out (with the notable exception of Karen). Lucas and Nathan had the worst dad in the world, but they became awesome men.

7. Darkness doesn't make it better.

If I think about this show, sometimes I'm amazed that every single character didn't go crazy. So much crap happened to them, and I wouldn't have blamed them for becoming depressed and giving up on life. Lucas almost did so when his fianceé left him, but his brother came to the rescue and pulled him out of it....he knew that living in darkness didn't make the pain any better.

8. Integrity matters.

So basically this whole show is centered around lying and deception...but integrity still wins the day. Whether being honest meant a scholarship was lost or a company was forfeited, the residents of Tree Hill still did what was right.