The Lessons Vault

One day, I imagined that I had a vault where I kept the most valuable lessons I’ve ever learned.

I opened the vault and was surprised to find that everything in there had been hard at the time. Often, deeply painful.

I saw unforgiving weather on trips to the mountains. Major financial mistakes. Cherished ideas that I was sure would work but didn’t pan out.

Because my most valuable lessons are so painful, I keep them in a vault and don't visit them often. Isn't that interesting? My most valuable lessons are the ones I seem to be intent on protecting myself from.

That’s backward. Instead of trying to protect myself, I should build a life that exposes me to those sorts of experiences as often as possible (with some much-needed rest and recovery in between).

So now, I’m trying to learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable. I’m setting my life up in a way that allows me to do things that may not work. I’m conducting experiments that are safe to fail instead of fail-safe.

I’m trying to cherish hard-earned lessons.

Doesn’t that sound better than keeping them locked away?