I think the point of the meme is that the struggles we go through end up inadvertently teaching us things. Sometimes we don’t realize what we’ve learned from a situation until we’re out of it. It’s hard to really evaluate such things in-the-moment, especially when everything seems like an awful struggle. Yet looking back years later, you tend to see things with more clarity - including things you would’ve done differently (which is to say, you recognize lessons you’ve learned.)
I’m still on my journey, experiencing great ups and downs. I’m disappointed that I’m in my mid-30s and life only seems to be getting harder (but current US politics are a huge factor in that.) I’ve gone through a lot of set-backs in my life, and I’ve learned that I’m always progressing in some way, even if it doesn’t seem like it at the time. Incidental learning happens throughout life, even if sporadically and in small ways.
I just wish I could’ve told my 25 y/o self that fact. She had to move back in with her parents after living independently - it felt like I was going backwards, and thinking about it made me retreat even more. I spent years in that depression-nest, and although it wasn’t a particularly “productive” period of my life, I still came out of it wiser than I was going in.
Either way, there’s no point in pressuring yourself to “learn” (unless you explicitly want to.)
I know that that’s what it’s trying to say. And I’m happy for you that that’s always been the case for you! For me though, it hasn’t. And like, that’s ok. It’s normal for suffering not to teach you anything. But that was hard for me to learn because of stuff like the post.
I think the point of the meme is that the struggles we go through end up inadvertently teaching us things. Sometimes we don’t realize what we’ve learned from a situation until we’re out of it. It’s hard to really evaluate such things in-the-moment, especially when everything seems like an awful struggle. Yet looking back years later, you tend to see things with more clarity - including things you would’ve done differently (which is to say, you recognize lessons you’ve learned.)
I’m still on my journey, experiencing great ups and downs. I’m disappointed that I’m in my mid-30s and life only seems to be getting harder (but current US politics are a huge factor in that.) I’ve gone through a lot of set-backs in my life, and I’ve learned that I’m always progressing in some way, even if it doesn’t seem like it at the time. Incidental learning happens throughout life, even if sporadically and in small ways.
I just wish I could’ve told my 25 y/o self that fact. She had to move back in with her parents after living independently - it felt like I was going backwards, and thinking about it made me retreat even more. I spent years in that depression-nest, and although it wasn’t a particularly “productive” period of my life, I still came out of it wiser than I was going in.
Either way, there’s no point in pressuring yourself to “learn” (unless you explicitly want to.)
I know that that’s what it’s trying to say. And I’m happy for you that that’s always been the case for you! For me though, it hasn’t. And like, that’s ok. It’s normal for suffering not to teach you anything. But that was hard for me to learn because of stuff like the post.