Life Lessons
I hate to start out on a negative note, but, the worst thing about learning life lessons is that you never learn them all. That's not to say I don't like learning them... but that there's always something coming that I don't know yet.
But I have a concept. A protection against this feeling of woe for whenever I learn once again, something that grows my character to greater heights. That is this: all of life's lessons, to some degree, involve becoming less selfish.
I think this partly because of all the lessons I've personally learned, and partly because of others' responses when asked for some of them ahead of time. Responses that, while quite often are informationally specific, usually don't pin down any character advances. Selflessness is a hard trait to identify and associate with life's lessons when trying to explain them, and I know that from more than one failed attempt to trace the origins of improved maturity.
"Always heed your wife's counsel."
"Work to bring worth to your employer."
"Remember that kids ultimately crave a relationship."
Or maybe,
"Keep your hands to yourself."
"Leave the toilet seat down."
"Chew with your mouth shut."
The point being, all involve becoming less selfish. Knowing this, and discovering it's validity in my own life as well as others', has given me a solid assurance for the road ahead. If most of life's lessons involve becoming selfless, then why wait for a painful circumstance to cause rapid humbling when I can start now?
Well, usually because of selfishness.
The more I learn of the world, and what true maturity is really all about, the more I realize that I don't need to, or have to, wait. There is a part of maturity that comes from experience that only comes with time. Say, going through the death of a family member, or having a traumatic experience like a car wreck, or emotional nightmares such as betrayal and/or rape. Experience that also comes from daily learning, as how to pound a nail the best way, or flatten a box the fastest, or how to move furniture efficiently. But just like a lot of time in highschool is excess that we've learned earlier, maturity is something that we can learn a lot of right now, and can make the future a lot easier.
And, because I'm still pretty selfish.... I'd love to hear some of your favorite life lessons, whether they're far-reaching, easily applicable, or funny. I love 'em all. :-)
But I have a concept. A protection against this feeling of woe for whenever I learn once again, something that grows my character to greater heights. That is this: all of life's lessons, to some degree, involve becoming less selfish.
I think this partly because of all the lessons I've personally learned, and partly because of others' responses when asked for some of them ahead of time. Responses that, while quite often are informationally specific, usually don't pin down any character advances. Selflessness is a hard trait to identify and associate with life's lessons when trying to explain them, and I know that from more than one failed attempt to trace the origins of improved maturity.
"Always heed your wife's counsel."
"Work to bring worth to your employer."
"Remember that kids ultimately crave a relationship."
Or maybe,
"Keep your hands to yourself."
"Leave the toilet seat down."
"Chew with your mouth shut."
The point being, all involve becoming less selfish. Knowing this, and discovering it's validity in my own life as well as others', has given me a solid assurance for the road ahead. If most of life's lessons involve becoming selfless, then why wait for a painful circumstance to cause rapid humbling when I can start now?
Well, usually because of selfishness.
The more I learn of the world, and what true maturity is really all about, the more I realize that I don't need to, or have to, wait. There is a part of maturity that comes from experience that only comes with time. Say, going through the death of a family member, or having a traumatic experience like a car wreck, or emotional nightmares such as betrayal and/or rape. Experience that also comes from daily learning, as how to pound a nail the best way, or flatten a box the fastest, or how to move furniture efficiently. But just like a lot of time in highschool is excess that we've learned earlier, maturity is something that we can learn a lot of right now, and can make the future a lot easier.
And, because I'm still pretty selfish.... I'd love to hear some of your favorite life lessons, whether they're far-reaching, easily applicable, or funny. I love 'em all. :-)
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