Experience Is a Hard Teacher

I’ve had many experiences in my life. You have had many experiences in your life. Have you ever had an experience you didn’t learn something from?

Sometimes the lesson is not a healthy lesson, like if I decide one person hurting me was lesson to trust no one. That would not be a healthy lesson.

People are different.

One, or even many, may be untrustworthy but some are. A healthier lesson would be to have taken note of behaviours from the person that maybe warned of them being untrustworthy.

I can think of some truly valued friendships that would not have happened if I had adopted a trust no one approach over others betrayal. We all experience betrayals. It’s what we do with them that matters.

For better or for worse, our experiences shape our lives and attitudes. They test us in ways a teacher in a classroom can’t. In a classroom, we learn first and then we get tested. In life, we get tested and then we learn. Backwards but maybe even more important than what we learn in school.

I could hear about someone’s experience, even take their experience to heart but I wouldn’t really learn the lessons from a similar experience until I went through it myself. I do say similar as we never really experience something like another person does.

Even when we’re present as the event is happening, how it impacts me will easily be different than the other person. My experience will be coloured by my previous life experience just as the other person’s previous life experience will impact theirs. Our reactions will also differ.

I don’t think I’ve ever learned a lesson from an experience not had. That probably explains why sometimes it doesn’t matter the warnings we receive before doing something. We just feel compelled to give it a go.

As I’ve accumulated those experiences I’ve at times been able to project what could happen. When I was young, rarely if ever did I stop to think about what my actions were going to produce. It was like something told me I had to just blunder in and learn my lessons.

That teacher just drove me to the experience and let it happen, then I could learn. Sort of funny as I was never a very good student. Most of my school lessons were too easy to hold my attention for long.

I’ve often been known as someone who shoots from the hip with my opinions. I was very much that way when I was younger. I’ve learned to temper that as I got older. Not in ever situation. There are times I’m just going to out and say what I think and you can like it or lump it. Other times, I let the shot come from my heart and deliver it a lot more gently.

Sometimes, the experiences we have are not of our making. They are situations which just arise and we need to deal with them. They could be health, injuries or how other people treat us.

I think those are the experiences which really make or break us. What do you think?

Shadowspub is a writer from Ontario, Canada. She writes on a variety of subjects as she pursues her passion for learning. She also writes on other platforms and enjoys creating books you use like journals, notebooks, coloring books etc.

Would you like to receive writing prompts every day? You can subscribe to Prompt A Day to get started.

Share your posts by joining us on the DreemPort Discord