we live and we learn

A phrase I often find myself saying when something has gone wrong is 'we live and we learn'. I don't know when I started using it, or where I got it from, but it has become a phrase I use quite a lot. I have never really thought about what it means though, and it is only now that the meaning of the phrase is finally hitting me.

Everyone makes mistakes, that's what makes us human. No one is perfect, and perfection will never be expected of anyone. It may sometimes feel like perfection is expected, but we all understand that everyone has flaws, so we accept these. But, something seen as a flaw to one person could be seen as an amazing personality trait by someone else, for example someone who is brutally honest about everything- some people don't like people being so honest and not putting any emotional cushion on the truth, but other people would see brutal honesty as a personality trait that should be respected because it's not often that people feel comfortable enough with others to be brutally honest all the time.

As no one is perfect, it's inevitable that we make mistakes, some may be small, others may be big. Whatever mistake anyone has made, they should learn from it. At the time, we could be embarrassed or annoyed with ourselves, and this is only natural, but in time, if we think about what had happened, we can analyse the cause of the mistake and this will mean that we can learn how to avoid making the same mistake again. We don't always learn from our mistakes the first time. Sometimes it takes a few similar mistakes to learn how to avoid it in the future, and this is okay.

There is no single meaning to life; many people will have their own ideas of what the meaning of life is, but there is not one meaning for everyone. I don't know what my meaning to life is, yet I have a few meanings, and one of them is to never stop learning. I don't mean learning in school or another place of education, I mean learning through experiences. I think that the day we stop learning from our experiences is the day our lives lose so much meaning. I understand that not everyone will agree with me on this, but this is just what I think.

I always try to learn from my experiences, both good and bad. Doing this allows me to very slowly become a better person. I learn how to be kinder and more caring to people, but also that I am important and that I must look after myself too. I learn what hurts me and what makes me feel better, and so can stay away from what makes me feel bad but spend more time doing what makes me feel good.

I learn about myself and the world around me as much as I can. There is so much out there that I believe needs to be learned. The world is full of amazing people, places and things, and it would be wrong to not explore and learn about them, but also myself.

I will continue to live and learn through my mistakes and successes, and by doing this, I will be less harsh with myself when things do go wrong. Once I start treating myself like the person I really am,  I will be happier. I am an imperfect person, and I should not punish myself for being imperfect, as I cannot change this about myself. It's not just that I can't change this about myself, but I don't want to change it. Perfection leaves no room for improvement, so I'd just become bored with myself.



The fool in life is not the person who makes many mistakes, the fool is the person who makes the same mistake over and over again.