#HAWMC - I learned it the hard way...

"It's not the mistakes we make that matters.
It's out recovery from them that counts."
-Deng Xiaoping

Some of the beliefs we hold play a significant role in our lives today because we learned them the hard way. According to human nature, we will make mistakes throughout our lifetime. However, more important than the mistake itself is what we do when we realize we have stumbled. Sometimes, it is tough to address our slip-ups and move ahead. But it’s necessary in life. So for today’s prompt – what’s a lesson you learned the hard way?

I tell ya... some days it seems like I've learned everything the hard way. I never was someone to take anyone's advice---I wanted to sum up a situation myself and come to my own conclusions, thank you very much. I wasn't going to let anyone do my thinking for me. Of course this has led to many a situation where I walked away, more than a little embarrassed, going, "Oh... that's why they say that's a bad idea. Right! Totally got that now." But I still wouldn't trade a lot of my first-hand knowledge. There's learning you get from experience, that no amount of advice can teach.

Question is, is it worth the cost of learning it? The toothpaste can't be put back into the tube, once it's squeezed out. Some things cannot be undone. Some things cannot be unlearnt. There are always consequences, seen and unseen. There are quite a few things where I think... "Ooo... I really didn't need to make that mistake. Yie." But, ya know... it's the recovery from it that counts. Everyone makes mistakes. That's what makes us human. Machines are about perfect. I am not supposed to be a machine. Mistakes are going to happen. A lot. Little ones and big ones. So what? They're not important. What's important is to keep striving despite them.

I've learned the hard way how to read the signs of my symptoms, and how to manage those symptoms. There was no other way to learn but the hard way. They don't give classes on how to successfully manage a chronic illness. No one majors in "how to be sick." These were very personal life-lessons I had to learn on my own. No one else lives in my body but me. How do you teach a feeling? Yet it's in learning those feelings that I can predict what I need so that my disease-caused mistakes are fewer and farther between. I think after my work of 10 years, I'm starting to finally get a handle on how to manage this new, strange machinery, that is my messed-up body. We'll see.

Time will tell.