Life Lessons

“We can draw lessons from the past, but we cannot live in it” ~ Lyndon Johnson

In life, everyday there are lessons learned. If you evaluate each lesson, you can hope for improvement as a person. Realizing the experience is a mechanism, it will allow you to engage in a life with rewards. If you ignore them, your life lessons, it could possibly cause stupidity and ignorance. Wouldn’t you want to embrace your failures and succeed, rather than settle for mediocrity?

When is the time to reflect and time to acknowledge life lessons? I will use myself as an example. I’m one of the hardest headed, stubborn people I know. Lessons learned had to be walloped across my head before I realized the lesson being taught. Yes, now is the time to reflect and realize that your everyday occurrences are your life lessons. Take what you can, digest it but make the experience your own! Two or more people can share an experience however they’ll end with different synopses. Embrace each lesson because it’s so easy to let them slip by.

Lessons of Lies and Truths! I learned early in life that keeping track of lies, impossible and too complicated, so telling the Truth prevails! Another lessons learned, another experience taken. Why do so many people lie? Are people too ignorant to see that they are ultimately teaching their kids to lie? A lie told, is a disappointment for all.

We can recall the bumps in the road, or the walls we hit, and the trials and tribulations of our youth. Recently my youth’s actions were slammed in my face like a ten pound snowball being thrown by a major league pitcher. As a youngster, I was a shy, extremely reserved, and I had very little confidence. Then I was tossed into the ring, a real show ring, there I was trained as well as the horses I rode. My instructor was world renowned and under her instruction I won multiple championship titles. Being a champion, did that caused an uprising of a teenage monster? I started questioning myself, and my actions of my past. Was I a little teenage bitch? I was quiet, very competitive, and was disliked by other competitors because I 'cleaned house' most every time I entered the show ring. So was I, you know, a bitch? I was the type of person who practiced continuously, most of my teenage life I put aside, to excel and be my best at riding horses. My trainer empowered me and my competitive nature and talent did the rest. My twelve year old niece came to live with us six months ago and I found myself saying these words; "You may be the princess but I am the queen." The equestrian lessons I learned, priceless! My social behavior, maybe in question, however my recollections of the countless lessons are invaluable, inside and outside of the show ring.

Today’s challenge would be to convince my niece not to take the hard road, and to avoid brick walls. Passing on my life lessons, tools that will help her succeed and vault her into becoming the wonderful young lady that she has the potential to be. Using life lessons to help someone else, seems nearly impossible. Some things you simply have to learn for yourself. Sometimes you just have to learn from hitting your walls.

A new life challenge seems impossible since teenagers seem to have it all under control. Here are a few quotes I’ve collected: “You don’t understand” followed by “but it won’t happen to me” and then the final and my least favorite teenage quote “I know!” Teenage boys, almost a piece of cake, but teenage girls are a whole other cake recipe all together. Angel Food Cake vs. Devil’s Food Cake

"Develop success from failures." ~ Dale Carnegie

The last thing we want is for our children to fail. We can guide them, teach them, but they need their own hills to climb and even tumble down. We can only pick them up, dust them off and let them continue on their own life journey. As we sit, hoping and praying, that they succeed.