The Lesson I Learned The Hard Way

Life is all about the experience, and these experiences have ways of teaching us through lessons we learn from, on a daily basis. Some of these lessons come as advice from people, while some of them are our own mistakes and painful situations.
There are some lessons learnt from the hard way that has a lasting effect on us due to the emotional impact they come with. One of the lesson I learned the hard way was trusting people too much. It changed the way I see people also it helped me in associating with people.

How open are you to learning, are you teachable?

I am very open to learning because I'm someone that believes learning never ends. Every stage of life presents us with new experiences and different lessons to learn. I listen to advice from older people, friends, and even younger people when it makes sense. I also believe being teachable requires humility because no one will say their wisdom is enough.

There are times, accepting the truth people share with me regarding trust & relationships was difficult for me. Then, I had this belief that people who are close to me had good intentions towards me. Trust was something I would give easily. Not until experience taught me the consequences of trusting easily.

Now, I pay more attention to people’s behavior instead of only their words. One good thing is that being teachable helps to avoid pain and disappointment. Listening to advices can save us from some difficult experiences later in life.

What is that lesson you learned the hard way?

One of the hard ways I learnt is that not everyone you should have or keep asking a friend and not all your friends really care about you. Some years ago, I had a friend, whom I trusted so much with some of my personal informations in life. The kind of support he gave to me was genuine. As a close friend, we gist, had many conversations.

Let me not bore you guys with the friendship talks and just move straight to the point. One time like that, I found out that my guy, is also sharing my personal conversations with him with another person. I was so angry at him because I wasn't expecting him as my guy to spill those conversations we had in private, this is coming from someone I trusted. That experience taught me a lot about friends. Emotionally, It affected me but I learned something from it.

I blamed myself for trusting too much and being open. I came to realize that not everyone deserves full access to our personal life. It taught be to be careful and know the information I share with those I call my friends.

Do you think learning it that way made you a better person today?

I learned a valuable lesson through this experience, though, it hurts, but I now understand that in friendship, boundaries are necessary for your own peace.
Now, I take my time to study anyone I call my friend before giving them too much trust. Again, trust should come in gradually in friendships not immediately. Just try to be very observant.

That experience taught me to rely more on myself, rather than expecting much from others. It's good to have people or friends who can support you but it's also good to be independent sometimes. Unnecessary disappointment can be avoided like this.

Most importantly, the experience did not make me dislike people. Instead, it taught me balance. Nothing changed at the way I value friendship and kindness, but I now apply wisdom to balance everything.
We can only learn something from experiences like this, if we are open to learn from it.