How can the experiences of man influence his personal development in a positive or negative way?

"It is true that those we meet can change us and sometimes in such a profound way that we are no longer the same people, not even by name." (Yann Martel, Life with Pi)

The True Lesson of Life

by Pola Palonek, VIII LO Kraków/Poland

We often say "we learn from mistakes" and "man learns all his life". Things we experience shape our character, our personality. Some experiences affect us more, others less, but undeniably every experience is important for our personal development. Sometimes the knowledge we acquire seems to be completely useless. However, we never know what will happen to us in life. The main character of the book "Life with Pi" became convinced of it. He spent his carefree childhood in India. His parents were the owners of the zoo, where he spent a lot of time. Unfortunately, a crisis forced the family to sell most animals and move to Canada in search of a better life.

During their cruise, a storm on the sea broke out. Everyone died except for Pi. The boy fought for survival, using, of course, the knowledge gained in his childhood. Every day was a big challenge and a new experience. Here the real lesson of life began, as a result of which the boy grew up very quickly.

Of course the chance that, unexpectedly, we will be castaways is relatively small. But it does not mean that we shouldn’t acquire knowledge. Every new experience makes us a smarter person.

Trying new things and confronting our beliefs in the world and our own possibilities with reality is worthwhile. It is good to realize that the world around us is changing. These are both slow changes, concerning all people, and violent ones about ourselves. Unexpectedly, accidents and unpredictable actions may force us to change our attitude towards the world. Maggie - the main character of the book "The One Thing" unexpectedly lost her sight. She had to learn life ’’in the dark’’. She experienced the world around her in a completely different way. It influenced her personality, character and attitude to life. She bravely faced adversity and learned how to cope with her disability.

Both Maggie and Pi, thanks to their perseverance, were successful. Are we also as strong as we think we are? How would we behave in extreme situations? Do we treat the difficulties that we encounter as the opportunity to gain new experiences, or do we prefer to give up? All of us have to answer these questions ourselves.

I heartily encourage everybody, who have not yet had the opportunity, to read the books I mentioned. Reading them is really worthwhile: ’’The One Thing” by Marci Lyn Curtis and ‘’Life of Pi” by Yann Martel.

Source: www.pixabay.com

Dear Pola, your opinion of learning from expierences was very interesting to read. I also think that people, situations, expierences and so on can change someone's view on the things dramatically. The people who have the biggest influence on us are probably our parents or family in general. Very often children have the same atttitude as their parents, especially in politics. But unfortunately there are also humans who don't learn from mistakes or expierences. A common example is history. We all know why wars happen, but again and again we are too stupid to realise what's going on.

Hannah Daxer - 02.05.2019 @ 15:20

You're right Hannah. And thank you for your opinion!

Pola Palonek - 05.05.2019 @ 13:45

I agree with your opinion, Pola. But not everyone learns from the mistakes they made or experience. I agree with you, Hannah, too! Everyone knows about wars and other things that happened before 2000, but still people are arguing or trying to make some big problems from nowhere. So learning from expierences isn't working on all people in this world. Maybe one day people will understand that things that happen ' aren't for nothing'. It's a huge problem for someone that lost their children or parents, but after the incident people realise things they did wrong or that they didn't have time to do it. There's also people who are thinking they are always right in all situations. No matter which situation or what happens, it is just other people's fault. To learn from mistakes, everyone needs to get in them first. The best way for learning is listening to other people's stories, so that you will not get in trouble. 

Greta Gudaityte - 09.05.2019 @ 11:39

Dear Pola, I agree with your opinion, too, and with yours, Hannah and Greta, as well. It's sad that some people don't learn from experiences or previous events, like wars. I also agree with you when it comes to "Life of Pi". It's one of my all time favourite books!

When talking about how experiences and the people around us shape our personality, I always think of Jaime Lannister, a character from the "A Song of Ice and Fire" book series. When he was young, he saved a whole city, but to do so, he had to break an oath. Later, nobody thanked him for saving the innocent, but all his life, he was hated for breaking said oath. The hate he had to endure turned him into a bitter and unlikeable person. His sister and his father also had a lot of influence on his personality and his behaviour. The things we endure can make sometimes make us stronger, but they can also affect us in a negative way. Jaime is the perfect example of that. However, he doesn't stay in this state of mind forever, but due to horrible things that happen to him, he tries to change his way of thinking. His story is one of the most amazing and interesting stories out there and I can only recommend this book series to everyone. (Not just for Jaime's storyline, though! The books are overall great and well-written.)

Anja Leitner - 18.05.2019 @ 18:05

Hej Pola, 

we loved to read your article because of its deepness and qualities. You are right by writing that experiences are the base of our knowledge. Without them we could get lost and not develop in our life. In addition your examples are perfectly fitting into the concept. Furthermore, persons with a harder life are mentally stronger and can structure their life better than others. This fact reminds us of "The Jungle Book" written by Rudyard Kipling. This book is all about experiencing and learning from mistakes. But it´s not just learning about the mistakes of ourselves, we can learn from others' mistakes as well and change ourselves in a positive way.

Sara Ben Touhami - 04.10.2019 @ 13:26