Let us first define what is an experience. An experience is something which helps you in learning how to handle the same situation second time in the best possible way or a new situation in a new way since you know how to handle things in life. A person's life is full of experience - good and bad both. You learn from bad ones much more than you learn from the good ones. Good experiences are easily forgotten, but it's the bad ones which stay in your memory. An experience transforms you into a better person. It not only changes you as a person, but it also changes your whole outlook towards life. You only gain experience when you go out & do what you want and then see what happens. Have the guts to do that and then experience the unexpected which is in store for you. That’s life. When a job seeker goes out to seek a job as a fresher it gets difficult for him but when an experienced person seeks a job it is easy for him. Ask a man or woman his experience of 10 years marriage and ask a young boy or girl about marriage. You will be surprised at both the answers.
When you encounter the same problem twice or thrice or “N” number of times you get good at handling it because you have experience. You will find people who had a struggling career, getting better with time. These people will be more humble and more understanding than rest of the masses who got things easily. They will not only value their job but also their employer. A housewife learns various ways of communication with her husband to get her message across after she understands what type of husband she is possessing. She has an experience. People get more understanding, more forgiving and gain more acceptance with time, age and daily experiences.
Two people may not experience the same feelings when encountered with the same problem. The reason being a different mindset. Two people have a different view of looking at the same thing so my experience and your experience will be quite different. Here I would like to cite an example of my daughter Sports Day event. I went along with another lady whose daughter studied in the same class. I was sitting there enjoying the whole stuff, clapping. In fact, it felt as if I was participating in that sports event while the lady who went along with me wanted to leave at the earliest. So you see we two had two different experience from the same situation. My husband always complains as to how I can laugh so much in a movie when others are still finding reasons to laugh, I usually say because my point of view is different. He knows me and has experienced my company so he knows when he is with me he can enjoy any movie. His experience right.
There are few life transforming experiences which happen in a lifetime and these are the ones which can move you either in the right or wrong direction. You have to be aware and always think which path to choose. It is very easy to take a wrong path but very difficult to trod a right one. But dare and walk the right path because that is what will transform you and carve your destiny. People encounter career setbacks, bad marriages, bad health, depression etc, but the strong person is not one who gives in. A strong person is one who experiences all these and then gets back to life with a new approach and achieves the unachievable.
I always tell people not to complain because it is life’s experience which makes us into better human beings. It is God’s way of guiding us on a new path and erasing the old ones so that we can move ahead and create history.
You will see many examples where people who are at the top had such life transforming experiences which made them work hard and achieve what others thought was impossible. I read books about people who had bad experiences in life, but yet they moved ahead in life just by their extraordinary determination and grit. Some books which changed me as a person are - Unbreakable by Mary Kom, Beneath the wave by Layne Beachley, I am another You by Priya Kumar, Soul Surfer by Bethany Hamilton.
These extraordinary ladies too had problems and I would say much more than many of us are having, but they did it then why should we complain. We should stop complaining and start looking for solutions. Our whole life is nothing but experiences stuffed in our journey so that we can get better and help others get better.
You have to accept what life throws on you, be it good or bad. It is on you how you handle it. Whether you grow up or fall down is decided by you and only you. Become resilient, get back to life. Approach life as come what may “I am ready to face it”. Even your palm lines and fortune stars will change and smile at you as you changed them by your persistent action and extraordinary determination.
