Learning from experience

I didn’t do my blog last week like I was supposed to. It wasn’t because I didn’t have time, because I had lots of time! I just couldn’t be bothered. It sounds awful really. But you know that old saying “give a busy person something to do and it gets done”? Well the reality is that I’m not busy, quite the opposite really and I’m not getting very far on very much.

I let my discipline slip last week by not doing the one thing I needed to accomplish – my blog. I am usually a very results-orientated and focused person and I have not lost that. But the way I see myself and the way I like to act has been challenged over the last few weeks. For those who do not know, I am between jobs, and am now on week 4 of unemployment. I’ve put a positive spin on it, I’ve been reading a lot, catching up with friends, and cleaning the house. But I have this overriding feeling that I have not accomplished anything.

Without some great thing to accomplish I’m a bit at a loss. I guess I derive a sense of self-worth from what I achieve. But this experience, right now, is not necessarily a bad thing. Every experience is something to learn from, particularly when things go wrong, or not so right. I’m not quite sure what I’m learning yet, maybe patience, resilience, strength?

Learning from experience requires reflection; this is how you know what to do differently next time. I know I will be getting back on the regular blogging wagon this week, maybe accomplish some thing, however small.  So to end my rather reflective blog I’ll leave you with a rather yogi-ish quote:

If you are depressed, you are living in the past.

If you are anxious you are living in the future.

If you are at peace, you are living in the present

Lao Tzu