I am not sure whether or not I have gotten smarter over the years but I do believe that as each year has passed by I have gotten wiser. At the gym that I have been a member of for almost three years now there are mostly older women and men that attend, mostly in the age range of about fifty and sixty. I listen to the stories they tell about the places they’ve been in life and the things they’ve seen. I hear them recount the trials and tribulations that they have endured and I take in the stories and experiences that they share. I listen and I would like to think that I am wiser for the information that I have taken in.
I have heard many quotes and sayings about wisdom but the one that I gravitate to the most is that wisdom comes from a willingness to be a student of life. It comes from a willingness to be a life long learner. Wise people learn that success does not come from a certain set of circumstances, but rather, from a certain set of attitudes. Listening to the older people I have been fortunate enough to be surrounded by has allowed me to change certain things about myself. I’ve learned a lot from them but mostly I learned that success does stem from your attitude and not necessarily your circumstances.
The older people I talk to daily have had some terrible circumstances and many tragic things that they have endured but they didn’t let their circumstances dictate how they journeyed on. Their attitudes were that of survival and moving past those circumstances and learning from them. So many times people (myself included) let their circumstances control the outcome of their lives instead of having the attitude of resilience. I think that I have made progress on adjusting my attitude and my reaction to certain circumstances and it is because I have gained more wisdom in the last few years from the older generation of people that I have come into contact with than I could ever possibly get only going to an institution for learning.
I think that I have become that student of life and have grown more than a willingness to be a life long learner. I learn, not just from school and the books that I read or the information I research, but I learn from living and from those who have lived life a long time before me. It is good to be intelligent but being wise is something totally different. If you just keep repeating the same mistakes and behaviors then you aren’t very wise because you haven’t learned from what you have already lived through. It is my hope that we all not only strive to become smarter but also wiser because with time being so precious, we have to be wise enough to not make the same mistake twice. Until tomorrow…Remember that fools learn nothing from wise men but wise men learn much from fools!
Jimmetta Carpenter
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The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)
Writing as “Jaycee Durant”
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I love this post! Right on the money. 🙂