Learn Your Lessons
Life errors and how to grow from them
2008
Some funky music was playing on my car radio. A V6 ute with plenty of pick up, power and speed. The first rain of the encroaching winter made the road a semi-icerink.
I indicate right at speed with peacocking bravado. I lose control. No weight in the back and my chariot fish tails for a few seconds. Tokyo drift makes it look cool, but when you temporarily lose control of your tonne of steel, it's scarily humbling.
I could have crashed.
I could have killed someone.
I've driven all over the world. America, Denmark, all over mountainous New Zealand, the full lap of Australia. I regard myself as a seasoned, experienced, safe navigator, with an excellent driving record.
2024
I'm driving my diesel powered ute. The rain falls everywhere after about seven months of sunshine. I enter a tight loop that says 40kms per hour. The music I have blearing and the confidence of a 10 out of 10 weekend has me accelerating faster. I fishtail and lose control of my 1.7 tonnes of steel for a split second, cutting across into the next lane.
I totally fucked up.
I was cocky and overconfident.
Nothing bad happened, but it could have.
The loss of control frightened me.
I waved to the car behind me in humility and thanks. I could have ruined their day too.
I drive like a grandma for the rest of my journey.
In my mind, I go straight back to my 2008 mistake and ruminate.
I don't want to make stupid mistakes.
But sometimes I still do.
Why?
Because I haven't learned my lessons yet.
When you fuck up in life, it's incredibly frustrating.
"Why haven't I figured this out yet??"
"I don't want to repeat this bullshit!"
And that is life.
Not living perfect all the time.
It's about learning your lessons.
Over and over again until the lessons have properly sunk in.
There are things and habits in your life right now that annoy the shit out of you.
Do you keep repeating annoyances over and over?
It's a frustrating aspect of the human experience.
It doesn't need to be this way.
What things are showing up in your life now? Repeats? Loops? Oh, not again!
Identify them. Pledge to change.
Learn your lessons.
Our egos can often drive us. When you put the ego in the driver’s seat, that's when things start going pear shaped. Using you ego as fuel is great. Ego is not the enemy, but don't let that maniac drive.
Can you step back into the driver’s seat and put your ego in the booster seat in the back?
Life will teach us the lessons that we must learn.
It is up to you and I whether we take that feedback and grow...
Every time I drive from here on, I will learn my lessons. I'm lucky that momentary mistakes haven't cost me everything.
The question I ask...
Will you learn your lessons too?....