Learn something from your experiences

By The NewsDay | Dec. 1, 2012 | 4 Min read

I— like many of you — have been betrayed, hurt, disappointed, let down, wrongly accused, duped, deceived, taken advantage of and experienced many setbacks.

I— like many of you — have been betrayed, hurt, disappointed, let down, wrongly accused, duped, deceived, taken advantage of and experienced many setbacks. This does not mean that I have not wrongly crossed paths of others who think I am the cause of their failures in life. Some of you have fresh wounds, your tears are enough to start an irrigation project and your hearts are so tattered and torn that a heart transplant seems the only option. With all that has happened to you, what beneficial lessons have you learnt?

Column by Pastor Erasmus Makarimayi

While you seek inner healing for your hurts, turn your experience to a learning experience. There are people that are tricked over and over again in a similar fashion. We hear people that say they were impregnated the first time by mistake, but now have enough children to constitute a clan by different fathers. People go through positive and negative, good and bad experiences in life. Some cry out over the bad experiences till eternity while others celebrate and throw wild parties for the good experiences till they discover that the cause for celebration has vanished.

This year has been a very good one for some and yet a terrible one for others. Some want it repeated over and over again yet others want it erased like Job would say in 3:3: “Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.” Before you proceed to next year it will be good to reflect on what you came across this year and indeed for all the years that you have lived under the sun. Whatever experiences that you have gone through in life should help you structure your future.

It has always been said that never allow the future approach you, but rather be proactive and approach the future so that it doesn’t take you by surprise. Therefore planning is key to your development and advancement. Some people are very good at crying and regretting their past and blaming everyone else for their failures. Wisdom will advise you to reflect on both your positive and negative experiences and make a better tomorrow. Be sober and get to your senses and plan your future.

If you know that you sleep with other men’s/women’s wives/husbands after drinking, why don’t you stop drinking? If you know you falter when in the company of a certain clique, why don’t you separate? If you know you misbehave when you get your salary or big contract then get someone to manage your income. On the flip side, you know exactly which people make you do better in life, but you don’t want the disciplined life they lead. Hang around with people that pull you when you fall or when you start dragging your feet. Be careful about who you associate with. Leave those people that say that you are a nobody. Hang out with those that encourage you and say you will make it.

Sometimes we fail to learn while we have the resources. I know there are many soccer lovers in Zimbabwe. Those in the know, please explain to us. Zimbabwe made a maiden appearance at the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals under the tutelage of Sunday Chidzambwa and later under Charles Mhlauri. The nation was then hopeful of making it to the World cup finals, but alas we have been consistently failing to make it even to the Afcon again! Have we learnt from the formula that worked first time? We always hear that it is back to the drawing board. Do we need to change the drawing board and the chalk maybe because of advancement in technology? Is it the “board” of people that is going back to the drawing board of wood that has to change? How did Chidzambwa and Mhlauri qualify? Tell us.

I ask you by the grace of God to get to your closet and list all that you have gone through in life and draw lessons for a better future. Don’t brush aside occasions and situations that you wish should be erased. Confront them. Interrogate both the humiliating and palatable experiences so that you strategically position yourself to do better. Why are you looking for a case study of others? Why don’t you do a case study of yourself? Use the experiences of your life to be a better person. Maximise the output of your positive experiences and eliminate the setbacks of your negative experiences. You are too precious to be a continuous failure. You are going somewhere.