Don’t Quote Me

Photo by Anthony Garand on Unsplash

There’s nothing like a good quote to draw you in, get you thinking and fill you with a sense of empowerment, if only momentarily. Social media has become flooded with feel-good quotes, posted and dished out to lift our spirits and make us better people.

The problem with these quotes or just about any other good intention we have is keeping them in sight. We need to tattoo them on our hearts and basically, live them. They need to have more of an impact and get more recognition than a quick “Oh, that is so true”- earning its place on a coffee mug or getting pinned on the “great quotes” board on Pinterest. We need to have them on display somewhere, on a mirror, on our forehead, written like a college kid cheat sheet in the palm of our hands, transcribed on our soul. I guess similar to prayer, cutting back on calories, and brushing our teeth, we can’t just do it once and think it will make a difference. Life requires a whole lot of repetition.

They say that we learn from our mistakes, our challenges, our sorrows.

That when things are going swimmingly we are not learning much, except I guess, how good life can be. So in reality, if we want to learn, to grow, to gain a boat load of wisdom, we should be welcoming any challenge that comes our way. In fact, sending out an open invitation to Mr. and Mrs. Trials and Tribulations, putting out the welcome mat and changing the sheets in the guest room.

I don’t know about you, but really I prefer the “life can be good” lesson plan. But it seems it doesn’t work that way, we need a well-rounded education. And some lessons you just don’t get. You have to take the class over and over again, maybe try a different school, a different professor, and even then there is no guarantee you will pass.

Quoting lyrics from Kenny Loggins —

“Some lessons are forever
Never need to change
Write and the word is written
Then we turn the page

But some lessons take forever
Time and time again
Caught in a battle that you can’t surrender
And can never win”