EXPERIENCE

EXPERIENCE - WHY EXPERIENCE?

•  WHAT IS EXPERINCE?
• WHY DO WE HAVE TO EXPERIENCE?

"DO NOT GATHER EXPERIENCES OF THINGS THAT WILL NEVER BE USEFUL (BE OF BENEFIT) TO YOU, WHAT YOU DO IS, YOU'RE OCCUPYING SPACES MEANT FOR REAL LIFE VALUABLE EXPERIENCES"

E

xperience as defined by the English Oxford dictionary is ‘event of which one is cognizant, it went further to say that it is a collection of events and/or activities from which an individual or group of may gather knowledge, opinions, and skills. Experience is so important that a fresh graduate with an average result may be rejected for an experienced school dropout. It has gotten to the level that age is no more the other for order but experience and what you have achieved with such experiences, no wonder Charlotte Brontё puts it so blunt;

“I do not think, sir, you have any right to command me, merely

because you are older than I, or because you have seen

more of the world than I have; your claim to superiority

depends on the use you have made of your time and experience”.

We learn a lot from so many situations in life, it is not that we always have to go through these situations in other to learn these experiences; they just somehow had to take place for us to learn from them. Experience they say is the best teacher, but many do not quite understand the statement as some have given it such magnitude that it does not require, many believe these experiences ‘are to be undergone by everyone’ in other to gain one or two knowledge from.

            On the contrary, experience must not be gotten from a direct contact with a situation, it could and can be gotten from quite a number of sources:

Ø  It can be gotten from reading about other people’s contact with that very situation. Experiences gathered from reading about how people who have gone through the same situation or circumstances can be quite helpful as it gives you different insights and foreknowledge on how it was handled and how you could handle it also.

Ø  It can be gotten from a mentor who directs you and tells you his or her experiences. A mentor is a life coach who guides you through as many events of life as you may go through, he or she guides you towards success in everything you embark on. Learning from a mentor is quite relieving as you know you have someone that will walk you through every situation that may come your way, this could also be bad, really bad for lazy persons who may not want to put their head to work as they know someone will help them out eventually (i.e. their mentors). A mentor is not a mentor enough if he or she does every task for you and make you do nothing.

Ø  It can be gotten from observing the life of someone close to you and how he or she handles such situation as related to yours. Learning by observation is quite helpful especially by people who learn more by watching than listening, reading or doing. Observing may also be complicating if one is not careful enough to be sure of every details he or she sees while observing.

Ø  Experiences can be gathered from carrying out a research study of a particular event, you just have to settle down and examine the events and how they all went down, now you get to know the difference or how best that is handled. Research explores ideas from other people who have gone through the same situation, relating first their ideas and then comparing and relating with your own situation.

Ø  This I know may sound too abstract but yes, experiences can be gotten from planning how to handle events that you are to confront;  there’s a way that you handle certain events and people without asking you would conclude, yes this was really handled by an experienced person.

We gather experiences everyday in everything we go through, weather you care to take note or not, do not be deceived, because you choose not to see something does not mean it is not there, you have only taken the decision of “ignorance” , experience does not tell you that you are having it, every second, minute, hour, day, month and year you have witnessed serves as an experience to the next second, minute, hour, day, week, month or year you will experience again.

You must not be ready, prepared or well situated to have an experience, now (hey don’t say it yet oh yes I know what you were going to say, just don’t say and read through this entire paragraph first) this depends on the kind of experience you are going to attain. There are many types of experiences which I we will not be talk about, although to me, there can all be classified into just two types and these are;

ü  Planned or Voluntary experiences

ü  Unplanned or Involuntary experiences

Planned or voluntary experiences are those you prepare for and are mostly ready to attain or receive such as learning trades, learning to do things and even getting ready try something that may fail, you plan and are ready to see it through. Planned experiences are most times goals and objectives and not just living normal life style or having a normal life experience.

            Unplanned or involuntary experience on other hand are those we do not prepare or plan towards, these are experiences we gather as we go about gathering the planned experiences, we do not plan it or prepare for it because it is most times unforeseen and not considered relevant. Unplanned experiences are nevertheless the one we always go through, whatever we do, however we do it, we choose to take note or not, we choose o pay attention to details or not, we just can’t do without it because it is your life style.

Planned or unplanned, we gather experiences every day, now you either choose to consider it an experience or not. In gathering experiences, you should make sure you are gathering the kind of experiences you wish to or want to gather and not the one you have been told to gather. Don’t get me wrong, of course there are experiences you have to gather because you are taught to or told to,but, even at that, yougotta gather experiences that has to be personal and not about what any other person thinks. It was probably in this regard that Roy T. Bennett put forward that;

“Don’t let the expectations and opinions of other

people affect your decisions. It’s your life, not theirs.

Do what matters most to you; do what makes you

feel alive and happy. Don’t let the expectations and

ideas of others limit who you are. If you let others

tell you who you are, you are living their reality – not

yours. There is more to life than pleasing people.

There is so much more to life than following others’

prescribed path. There is so much more to life than

what you experience right now. You need to decide

who you are for yourself.

Become a whole being.

Adventure.

My final words here are limited because as much as I would love to tell you what exactly you have to do or experience especially for your sake, I cannot, you have to decide that for yourself, so therefore all I can say is to summarize what Roy T. Bennett has stated;

“Get Experience For

Yourself And

Not To Please Others,

Don’t Live People’s

Reality,

Live Yours”