Do we learn as we get older? Or do we keep putting our selves in the same upsetting situations?

Question

Do you change your behaviour or do you keep trying to walk through the door that's been bricked up?

Answer 1

It depends on the person. Many people have developed so many bad habits from self esteem issues, berating themselves, thinking themselves unworthy, etc. that they will continue to make the same mistakes until they change their negative thinking. Others can make mistakes and learn from them. The most wise people will even learn from others' mistakes and won't have to make their own. My favorite phrase is "hindsight is 20/20" although it's a frustrating one.

Answer 2

Personally I do think I have learnt as I get older and I am wiser with many issues.. Unfortunately, there are new senarios with which I will still 'put my foot in' Lots of opinions and advice I would have given when younger I seem to now know when silence is best.  Also I am not as sensitive as I used to be, think you learn to take the knocks. Think also you separate the hangers on from true friends.  People that I looked up to and would have given anything to be part of their crowd no longer matters to me.  In fact, I feel a bit sad for them as fortunately my life and my family have worked out better and I realise now been part of their lives is not important to me.  Maybe I am very lucky with my lot but it truly how I feel at present.

Answer 3

You make your life how you want it.

Answer 4

People do change through experience, but then again some people never learn or change their ways. Also one of Sod´s Laws is that you often only gain the experience after you need it most.

Answer 5

I never bang my head up against the same wall twice.

I learn as I go along in life.....it's a lot less painful.

Answer 6

We do keep walking into doors.  We should all get harder hats.

Answer 7

i do both but to be honest i keep making more of the same mistakes

Answer 8

I have made conscious efforts to change.  After I find myself making the same mistakens, I have to stop and go "ok, time out.  Step back, figure out what you are doing wrong and correct it because I'm not going through this again."  This goes for failed relationships especially.  Too many people leap from one bad relationship directly into the next without considering what was wrong with the last one, how can I change or make sure I don't do things exactly the same the next time.

Answer 9

I'd like to think we learn from experience as we get older but some mistakes are made again no matter what it seems.

Answer 10

wow. your question made me think, and i infortionally am very hard headed, yeah, i TRY to walk thru brick walls.

Answer 11

If you learn from your mistakes then you won't be stupid enough to do it again. So if you don't want to mess up again then learn from your past if you are hard headed and don't care then it will happen again.

Answer 12

Oh yes we definitely learn as we get older, all the mistakes we make teach us not to do something again. There are many wise sayings around about age and wisdom could be why a lot of societies and cultures hold older people in such high regard. The older we get the more we learn which is the best thing about getting older. Of course many parents try and pass on the benefits of their gathered wisdom to their teenage offspring but whether they listen or not is often a bone of contention in many a household. It is almost gauranteed however that as these teenagers grow up and have children themselves they find themselves echoing their own parents actions hoping that their offspring will listen to their words of wisdom.

Answer 13

Mostly I learn, but then I like to see if maybe one day the ending will change.

Answer 14

The only way to truly waste a day (or a life) is to not at least attempt to better yourself and/or learn something all the time.

Becoming stagnant is an unacceptable way of being, in my opinion.

But that doesn't mean I don't do it at times!!  :-p

Answer 15

i'm learning : ]

i've learned not to touch the electric fence,

not to talk politics with teachers,

not to try to reason with atheists and liberals,

and i've deffinitly learned that if you eat a quesadilla and go running when it's 100 degrees you will not be feeling good...

i'm not gonna repeat any of those things.

it's human nature to learn from your mistakes.

Answer 16

I think it depends on your personality.

A few years ago I used to look after elderly people, and some were very lovely and some were not.  My staff used to get so fed up with the nasties and think that they have gone this way with old age, but when you listened to some of them it was basically their personality.  For instance the grumpy ones were always grumpy and the happy ones were always happy, if you get my drift.

Situations should make you learn but I really don't think they do.  If you are stubborn then you will stay stubborn.

You obviously gain life experience and if you have  a certain personality then you will learn from it.

The only thing that has helped me through some scary moments is having a sense of humour,and I do tend to think before I speak, not always but more often.  Plus I have probably chilled more, I cannot be bothered with trivial things that used to bother me when I was younger.

Answer 17

Serious answer.  I have had enough of putting myself in the same upsetting situations, over and over, thinking that I am going to manage it much better this time.  I never do.  Now I live a solitary life, I zig zag my way OUT of upsetting situations, I have discarded my address book, I recognise now when I may be heading for the door that's been bricked up, and I just don't go there.

This way of living is NOT the same as looking after number one.  I care for many people, but I have built a wall around myself.

Answer 18

I think if we didn't learn as we got older, or in other words by experience, we wouldn't last very long.

Answer 19

History tends to repeat itself...I think it's human nature

Answer 20

yes both

Answer 21

yes you learn somthing new everyday