Hard Lessons Learned

Cruise Alaska – Google Image

Someday my ship will come; undoubtedly, it will run aground before docking because I am nothing if not stubborn to the bone.

I have a history of making bad choices, at the time they seemed to be great choices but in retrospect well let’s just say I might have done better. The thing is there are few things I would have done differently even if Gabriel flew golden wings all-aflutter and offered me a rewind. That is the funny thing about choices as we get older all our youthful indiscretions might not have been great, but unless we are completely incapable of self-examination and introspection we undoubtedly learned something from them.

Byzantine Gabriel – Wikipedia

Ten Lessons I Learned the Hard Way

1. Nothing is Free, not even Lessons in Life somewhere, somehow and someone will pay.
2. Men do not love you for your heart, mind or soul until long after the Lust Stage so step cautiously and listen carefully (others refer to the Lust Stage more politically correctly as the Courtship, Honeymoon, Infatuation or Romance Stage).
3. Selfishness is inherent to the human condition, we have to work at unselfish acts don’t get angry when others don’t work as hard as you do or live up to your expectations.
4. Extraordinary things happen to ordinary people every single day what happens afterward is what makes or breaks them, don’t judge unless you have been there and don’t allow judgment to affect your decisions and life choices, remember they haven’t been where you have been and you haven’t been where they have.
5. I am not infallible or indestructible, dammit!
6. I am not the smartest person in the world, however I am often the smartest person in the room and that pisses people off. It is sometimes better to simply keep my mouth shut until I know the terrain.
7. I will never be too old to learn something new but it gets harder to apply new learning as I get older, never stop either even if you have to break a sweat.
8. Hard hearts create ugly people and ugly people should be avoided at all costs no matter previous relationships or even family relationships, toxic are toxic.
9. Politics and religion should never be discussed in mixed company unless you are willing to be dragged to the town square and burned by your friends and relatives
10. There are some things that you should never tell anyone, not even your spouse, your siblings or  your best friend. Some thing’s that should remain under scar tissue or locked in the cellar.

Hard way lessons should be respected. You might have your own list of lessons learned, mine are simply those I find worked best for me. When I break them, ignored them or otherwise attempt to manipulate them to make them more palatable for others to swallow, it always cost me dearly.