8 Lessons You Learn Through Life’s Challenges

Dr. Ankit Sharma, PhD

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Lessons You Learn

Life is nothing but a constant learning experience. Throughout our lives, we rise & fall, collecting vital lessons. Some of these lessons originate from experience, yet there are some others that we learn from others or reading books, for instance. The most vital thing is not the process but the Lessons You Learn.

No matter how much we learn from the readings, there is a noteworthy difference between practical & speculative experience. Besides, there are many life lessons that we cannot learn until we face particular situations in our life. Most people would state that some lessons come very late, catching us unaware & unprepared, yet those lessons we cannot simply ignore.

Lessons Learned from Life Challenges

Lessons You Learn

1. You Must Change

There are certain times when things go south in life. Most of us try to neglect it, refuting the truth life presents to us.

When a problem arises, most of the time, it happens because something is not right – you got sick because you are not paying attention to your health; you are in heavy debt because you couldn’t manage your finance; you got betrayed because you are too trusting; your partner wants to break up with you because you are too arrogant – the list continues.

Instead of looking at external situations & blame them for unhappy life events, look at yourself first & try to find out if there’s anything you can improve. Can you modify how you live so your life condition can improve? Whether it be changing your habits, attitude, or viewpoint, you must change to improve your life’s situation. Failing to accept the truth of life, you will forever be trapped in an unescapable situation.

2. Nothing Is True, Everything Is Permitted

This one of the Lessons You Learn may seem directly from Assassin’s Creed video game series. This quote was made famous in a book called Alamut by Vladimir Bartol.

Along the way, you will learn nothing is called the ultimate fact. The truths of today can be changed the next day based on new findings; therefore, keeping your mind open, being flexible to change & developing your own perspective is necessary.

 Famous Astrophysicist Giordano Bruno was burnt on a stake by fanatics for claiming Earth revolves around the Sun. Scholars like Nicolaus Copernicus & Galileo Galilei didn’t have to suffer a similar fate, but they also faced brutal consequences.

If today, anyone claims that Sun revolves around the Earth, they will find themselves in mental institutions. Hence, keeping your mind open to ever-changing facts & developing your perspective is vital.

3. Don’t Falter When You Should Act

There is an old Roman saying that people frequently quote – “Carpe diem” – which means “Seize the day.” We often don’t act because we lack confidence, experience, or courage.

This hesitation stops us from moving forward & traps us in a cage of wondering what might have been. When you feel it’s time to take action, do it. Regardless of the consequence, you will become smarter & wiser than before.

4. You Can’t Control Everything in Life but You Can Control Yourself

There are certain circumstances in life that you can’t control, like being born into a poor family, losing your parents at a young age, becoming a victim of an unexpected accident, or having some terminal ailment.

By giving up on life, you become weak & susceptible. You become easily influenced, particularly by bad influences like drugs & alcohol, which you are told could help you to ease the pain. You become miserable & emotionally unbalanced, which causes depression & many things.

However, if you understand that you are in control of yourself no matter what comes, you will not disregard the unfortunate situations & use them as springboards to bounce back better. You can create an overall healthy environment for yourself.

5. You Can’t Change the Way Things Are but You Can Change Your Perspective

Facing life’s challenges require strength, both mental & physical strength because they go together. You must stay strong. You must look for support from family & friends. Most significantly, you must change your perspective on life. You must understand that you always can’t change the way things are, but you can change the perspective you hold.

Remember the wise words of famous American author Tony Robbins: “The secret of success is learning how to use pain & pleasure instead of having pain & pleasure use you. If you do that, you’re in control of your life. If you don’t, life controls you.”

6. Getting Good Things Are Not Easy

If you aspire to have a good life with a successful career, emotional fulfillment, & trustworthy friends, you need to work hard.

Luck can give you only so far & the rest is completely up to you, the amount of effort you put in each day, & the capability & willingness to learn from your mistakes. Don’t ever think that someone else will fight your battles with the same robustness & dedication as you would.

Having good things in life needs time, devotion, blood & sweat. There is no shortcut to achievement. This is one of the vital Lessons Learned from Life Challenges.

7. You Can Be Your Worst Enemy & Best Friend

Sometimes when life smashes, you start to hate yourself. You hate yourself for allowing people who’ve done wrong into your life. You hate yourself for not being well-organized & for your mistakes in the past, which caused your life to divert.

However, having faced such a struggle, you recognize that sometimes you can be your own worst enemy. You can blame yourself for things gone wrong, or you can forgive yourself, pick yourself up & move on. Dwelling on those thoughts can only cause self-harm & suspend healing.

To heal, you must accept the circumstances, forgive yourself & your mistakes, lend yourself a hand to stand up like a best friend & move on.

8. Make Every Moment Count

Life goes by faster than our imagination. When you are in your twenties, you may think it will be like this forever, but before you know it, you hit your thirties & it’s already too late for the things you wanted to do or accomplish as a young person. Live your life fully because life is short & can we never know what tomorrow brings, a comfy bed at the end of the day or a coffin.

What Are The Various Methods Of Learnings From Life?

There are various methods of learning from life. Unfortunately, those lessons can’t be found in a classroom. You must go out & face life as it is to discover the Lessons You Learn. However, there are many ways to gather life lessons:

i. Own Experiences: Personal life experiences are the best teachers. You can best learn & gather lessons from your first-hand experiences. But as the old joke states, ‘Life is such a teacher who takes the test first, then teaches the lesson.’

ii. Experiences of Others: The world is filled with different people from different origins, cultures, perspectives & different experiences. It is impossible to meet them all. Still, try to interact with as many people as you can. Try to know them & learn from their experiences.

iii. Books, Journals, Narratives, Podcasts: Informative materials like those are great life lessons. An author can depict his unbiased life experiences. A podcaster can narrate her unadulterated experience about certain things & state their viewpoints. You may gain some life lessons from them.

FAQs

Q: Can I get a book about these life lessons?

A: There is no complete book on Lessons You Learn, as people always have different experiences & different life lessons.

Q: How many life lessons can be considered adequate?

A: There is no degree for gaining life lessons. Therefore, there is no scale to assess that. Even the most experienced people often consider they have so much to learn.

Q: Does effective life lessons always come through challenges?

A: Though positive emotions & situations can bring some life lessons, challenges & hardships often bring the most vital ones.

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