Repeat Lessons and Self-Reflection

Ever go through something because of a bad decision/situation and promise yourself you’ll never do it again?  Only to realize mere weeks later you’re doing the same thing all over again? After some self-reflection, I found that I do it more than I’d like to admit.

Perfect scenario?  Remember how I scratched my right eye a few weeks ago by not taking my contacts out? And I said I was going to take care of myself better?  Well, guess what?  I did it again – this time to the left eye.  On the weekend before I had to fly to Kentucky for a customer meeting.  Let me tell you – being in a room full of suits and trying to look professional, pay attention, and keep your eye from freaking out is not easy.  Not sure how well I sold it, but I sure tried.  My eye was red, angry and it hurt.  Nothing like looking you shot up in one eye while trying to present corporate strategy, but hey.  We got through it.

Today my poor eye is far less red, but it is still slightly blurry.  I may need that eye patch after all 😉

Most of these lessons we go through are not just physical.  For me, it’s usually a mental or emotional road I find myself going back down when prior experiences had already proven it was a bad idea.  And what do I do?  Do it all over again – but it looks or acts “different” so that makes it okay. Right?  Yeah, nope.  Not usually.

Buy why do we do these things over and over again? (Honestly, I’m hoping it’s not just me over here screwing up repeatedly).  For me, it’s because maybe it feels good.  Or sometimes it seems like the right thing and that makes it okay.  Other times, we totally know it’s a bad idea and we do it anyway.  Because it strokes our ego or makes us feel okay – or whatever.

For me, I usually have to go through things at least three times before I somewhat learn the lesson.  (Sincerely hope I get my act together on this eye situation btw.  Not going through this one a third friggin’ time). Most of the time it’s because I can’t see for looking. Or what’s right in front of my face. But honestly? Sometimes I don’t want to see it. Because I want whatever it is to go down. Then – you guessed it – it doesn’t always end well.

Most of the time it comes down to doing the right thing. Even though it hurts. And it’s hard. And it doesn’t feel good. But I’ll tell you this – it’s a hell of a lot better than doing something wrong willingly and then suffering the consequences. I’ve been there. And it sucks. Especially when that lesson took a long time to learn.

But where would we be without a little self-reflection? (Not self-degradation- please don’t do that.) Learn what you can from your situations and move on. That’s why we go through stuff – to learn from it. How you apply that lesson is what ends up shaping your character- and how you’ll respond the next time. Is it easy? Nope. Does it feel good? Hell no. But if you are honest with yourself, it will end up making you stronger and you may just make a better decision the next time.