What experiences in life helped you grow the most?
Bitter life experiences
This is an answer to the WordPress prompt, “What experiences in life helped you grow the most?”
For me, the experiences in life that made me grow the most are the bitter ones, namely the loss of dear ones. When death lays its icy hands on the ones you love, the world seems to stand still. You are momentarily disoriented and full of so many questions, doubts, recriminations and regrets. The brevity of life suddenly appears real and has a face which you can clearly see. It is not a pleasant face to behold.
Other bitter life experiences may include a betrayal by a trusted person, a painful divorce, an estrangement from family and a health scare. When any of these occur, it is helpful if you can rely on your faith to see you through. This is because not everything can be rationalised and pain is no exception.
After achieving calm through your faith, you should seek to grow by creating beauty from ashes. The goal is to come out with something positive out of all the negativity. This will strengthen you and keep you from becoming bitter and resentful. Here are five ways to do this:
1. Count your blessings
When you count your blessings, it keeps you from harbouring bitter and resentful thoughts. Despite any setback that you have been through, you should know that other people have been through worse things. Moreover, what you take for granted may be someone’s dream. As such, counting your blessings helps you to grow from bitter life experiences.
2. Reach out to others
Another way to grow out of bitter life experiences is by reaching out to others. You can reach out to others either by a phone call, a text message or even a visit. It is amazing how a simple “Hello, how are you doing?” can make such a difference in someone’s life. That little show of concern could save that person from depression. The interesting thing is that, by reaching out and showing concern to others, you are also emotionally fulfilled as you feel very useful and you end up forgetting your own pain. As the saying goes, “No man is an island.” As such, human beings necessarily depend on one another to survive.
3. Perform acts of kindness
You can also grow from bitter life experiences by performing acts of kindness to others. By so doing, you gain a sense of fulfilment and purpose. You feel that you have succeeded in making someone’s life better. This clarifies your role on planet earth. If, at the end of your life on this earth, you have succeeded in making a difference in the lives of several people, imagine how fulfilling that would be!
4. Embrace the arts
Embracing the arts is also a therapeutic way to grow from bitter life experiences. You can engage in drawing, painting, pottery, sculpture and photography. Art is a great outlet for releasing pent-up emotions. Hence, creating something brings about a feeling of rebirth which refreshes the soul. Moreover, art can be more long lasting than the lifetime of the artist, as expressed by Hippocrates in the quote, “Life is short but art is long.” You can also delve into music and learn how to play a musical instrument. According to the German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, music is the food of the soul. As such, music has many advantages for the mind, body and soul.
5. Start a blog
Last but not the least, you can grow from bitter life experiences by starting a blog. Having a blog is like keeping a diary. It helps to put things in perspective. After the passage of time, when you look at certain occurrences which appeared to be insurmountable then, you cannot help but to be amused at how inconsequential they really were. Blogging is also a creative outlet as it gives you a voice in the world. You can share your experiences and offer advice to others.
Cheers to growing from bitter life experiences!
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