Experience is not what happens to you, it’s what you do with what happens to you
This is a guest post.
I believe everyone living or has lived has been gifted with wisdom to solve one problem or another; wisdom needed to go beyond our limitations; wisdom to make the right choices to allow the right people into our lives; wisdom to discern and watch over our young ones, protecting them from any form of harm, the list goes on and on……Most of the people I coach have come to a crossroad in certain areas of their lives where they have needed a bout of wisdom to direct them to the next phase, direction, junction etc.
This wisdom that we so earnestly and some times desperately seek comes from the experiences we have encountered and dealt with in life’s issues.
Most people tend to shy away from problems, what they fail to realize is that the so called problems, are sent our way to make us more experienced in life’s issues. You can view these experiences as trials and tests to show us the stuff we are made of. It’s only when we have solved the problem or dealt with the issue that we can be the voice of wisdom to others and to solve the next problem that may find its way to our doorstep.
For those of you who know the story of Solomon; he was portrayed as the wisest man on earth. If you look back in history, he was able to solve a problem between two prostitutes who came to him about a child, it was his wisdom that discovered the real mother to the child. We know that God blessed him with the gift of wisdom to judge the people he was king to, his wisdom brought him wealth unimaginable and that can still happen today.
Problems should be viewed as blessings, because when they are solved what lasts with us is the gift of wisdom; and that in itself can never be taken away.
Some of my clients don’t understand why they have so much problems to deal with, the questions I ask them is what can they learn from the problem? How do they think the problem can be solved? Why has the problem found it’s way to them instead of someone else? In answering some of these questions lies within the wisdom to solve their problem and that also means having to accept the reality of the problem to be able to solve it. Personally, I believe the problems you have and solve, the more experience you gain and ultimately what you do with the experience becomes the gift of wisdom.
If we can change our perception of problems, perhaps rename them as processes, experiences or even challenges, then we can embrace them when they appear and positively handle them to disappear, and the result will be wisdom used for the next phase of a situation in life.
Your story will then be what you now do with the experience that has happened to you and how you handled it.
There in lies success and achievement.
Written by Jacqueline Nwokeji-Ani
Jacqueline Nwokeji-Ani is an Author, Career Coach, Leadership Consultant and Social Entrepreneur. You can contact her at info@shammahcorporation.com
Article photo by Hunterrrr
3 Responses to “Experience is not what happens to you, it’s what you do with what happens to you”
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Hello Jacqueline. I agree with you that experience isn’t what happens to you, how how you solve and go through that experience that matters. This is the essence of “true experience.”
If an earthquake happened, you can the earthquake doom you, or you can simply see the earthquake as something that’s happening to you and do something to avoid it.
Problems and challenges in life can appear simplier if we handle the from seeing it in a different perspective and try to solve them from there. Great post!
Hi Tristan, thank you for your response. There are so many experiences that we have all been through some not as traumatic as an earthquake.
There are experiences such as this that can leave a lasting impression in one’s mind especially if lives have been lost in the process. However it always come back to what are you prepared to use that experience to allow happen in your life.
After the period of shock and surprise, yes you will have to turn round what would have left a negative experience into a positive one. So it really comes back to what will you do with what has happened to you. YOU being the main word will have to be in control and turn it round into a positive.
Hoep this helps.
Really enjoyed this post. I agree that when people take the approach to learn from their problems, rather than waddle in them, they will come out much wiser.
The only way you learn is by the books you read and the experiences you have in life.
Torrey