When you get older you realize life goes through cycles. Suddenly all that advice older people tried to give you when you were younger makes sense. They tried to help you take shortcuts and all you did was what you wanted to do because you thought you knew better.

Maybe you thought this was different or times have changed. Maybe they did and you were right. Maybe they thought what they did was the best way to move ahead. What did you think at that time?

As I look back, I understand they wanted to help. I thought I had to learn things on my own, which I did. Unfortunately, I am a slow learner. I should have thought things through more and planned. Now I am paying for those mistakes.

The great thing about reading books is that you get the benefit of someone else’s experience and maybe you can learn from it. It may help you get ahead or it may run you off the track.

Either way, it’s a life lesson, isn’t it? We try things, and if they don’t work out, hopefully we learn. However, I have made the same mistakes repeatedly before I finally learned.

Like I said, I am a slow learner. I wish I was better, but I tend to repeat mistakes a few times until the painful truth punches me in the face.

However, life goes through cycles, it really does. Not just the life we live, but history, politics, and so on. Every time I hear someone say, “this is nothing like I’ve ever seen this before”, it only means they didn’t see it before. Maybe they need to look further back in history, read a book, or simply ask someone who maybe has seen it before.

Things really do follow cycles but as technology and politics change, human nature tends to remain consistent.

Life Cycles:

Very young, before school, maybe preschool and kindergarten. We were young and carefree for the most part. I was raised on a farm so simple chores around home and playing all the time. Fun times!

Then school. Elementary school was fun, I still remember recess with my friends. That was still a good time.

Then high school is where you begin to worry about what others think. You want to be cool and popular, if possible. This is where life lessons start, in my opinion. There’s usually a bully you must deal with. If you didn’t, then you may have been the bully.

You learn who the dumbest person in the room is, and if you don’t know who it is, then it’s probably you.

You see who the opposite sex likes, and who they don’t. At the same time, you learn who you like and what you’re attracted to. You learn a lot about lust and a little about love.

You grow up, body, mind, and soul. Unfortunately, most men don’t mature for some time unless they’re pushed into it. I was not, I thought I could go on having fun and living it up with my friends for some time.

Then you go to college, trade school, or get a job. Some of us did the job and school, that’s what I did. Back in my day I was fortunate to get a 2-year technical degree while working weekends. Today’s kids seem to have money and a smartphone, whether they work or not, good for them. In my day I had to pay for gas, books, and food. Of course, I also found money for beer. That seemed to just happen.

Then I got a job at a big defense contractor. They liked our school, and I moved away into my first apartment by myself. Pretty cool. They gave me a cost of living raise then, and I was hourly. Those benefits are gone!

Then I moved up and down the east coast. To be honest, I wish I could have seen more of the country and world, but I took what I could get. I was working to live.

Then you get married, maybe, and have kids. Kids change your life and help you look at planning differently. They change everything.

Then they leave and you’re looking forward to retirement. Not because it’s more fun, you’re just tired of your silly job. You begin to realize there’s more to life than working for others. You want to give back to your own community. You want to see your family more often throughout the week and not just when you have time.

Change isn’t always bad.

When looking back, we tend to romanticize the past. Things were easier, harder, more fun, less fun, or whatever compared to today. We think the past was better regardless even if it wasn’t. It’s just now that it ’t seems so bad. It was also known, whereas today we are moving into an unknown. We knew how the past would turn out and today we can’t help but wonder what will happen. We already know what happened, and it wasn’t so bad. We survived. Sure, things could have turned out better, but we survived.

This too shall pass. That’s what my mother always said. I hear Abraham Lincoln also said that, but to be honest, he may have stolen it from my mom, may they both rest in peace.

That statement is so true, this too shall pass. The only exception would be death. So, then we must remember the new saying, memento mori. I give credit to Marcus Aurelius but when I looked it up, Bing said Tertullian said it, (a 2^nd century Christian writer). My point is we must remember, we will die. I don’t know anyone who beat death, yet. I know have known people who died early and lived past 100. The one thing they all have in common is that they died.

When we’re dead, this life really doesn’t. Matter does it, but since we’re still alive we can offer advice to others or perhaps listen to those who have lived longer or have more experience of something. We must always be learning!!!

One more thing, experience is a great teacher. If we do stuff, then that stuff tells us what it is like. It may have been rewarding or a huge waste of time. Either way, if you tried then you know. Simple.

I know too many people who don’t try because it’s too hard or will take too long or it’s impossible. If we don’t try, then how do we know? Nelson Mandela once said, “It’s always impossible until it’s done.” Look at what he achieved! What a great role model, to a point. I don’t want to spend 20 years in hard labor to prove a point. All the same, I really admire the guy in a big way!

A Journey Through Time and Lessons Learned

Have you ever paused to marvel at the spirals of life? How, as we age, the echoes of the past resurface, bringing with them the wisdom we once dismissed? It’s a revelation that dawns with time, transforming the unsolicited advice of our elders into treasured insights.

There was a time when we believed we held the reins, steering our lives through uncharted waters, convinced that the old maps no longer charted our modern seas. We were explorers, pioneers in a world that was evolving beneath our feet. But what did we truly understand back then?

Looking back, I see the threads of their intentions, woven with the desire to guide us. Yet, I chose the path of the solitary learner, absorbing life’s lessons at my own painstaking pace. The cost of my stubbornness is a ledger of mistakes, a tally I’m still settling.

Books, those silent mentors, offer us the distilled essence of another’s journey. They can propel us forward or lead us astray, but regardless, they impart wisdom. Life, after all, is an experiment of trial and error. We stumble, we fall, and if we’re fortunate, we rise with newfound understanding. I confess, my own journey has been marked by repeated missteps, each one a lesson etched deeper into my consciousness.

Life indeed moves in cycles, not just in the personal realm but across the vast tapestry of history and society. When I hear exclamations of unprecedented events, I can’t help but think that perhaps they simply haven’t looked far enough back. History is a cycle, and within its revolutions, we find recurring themes.

Despite the relentless march of technology and the shifting sands of politics, the core of human nature remains steadfast.

The Stages of Life:

In the tender years of preschool and kindergarten, life was an open field, a playground of endless possibilities. Raised on a farm, my days were a blend of simple chores and unbridled play.

Elementary school brought the joy of recess, a time of carefree laughter and camaraderie.

High school, however, introduced the complexities of social dynamics. Popularity became a currency, and the presence of a bully was a rite of passage. It was here that the foundations of life’s lessons were laid.

The dance of attraction and the lessons of love and lust played out in the hallways and hearts of our youth.

Adulthood beckoned, and with it came the responsibilities of higher education and employment. I juggled a technical degree with weekend work, a balancing act unfamiliar to the smartphone generation, who navigate a different landscape of opportunities and challenges.

My career took flight with a defense contractor, leading me to new horizons and a solo apartment. The benefits of that era, like the cost-of-living raise, are relics of a bygone time.

Life’s journey saw me traverse the East Coast; a path constrained by the necessities of livelihood rather than the pursuit of wanderlust.

Marriage and parenthood followed, each a transformative experience that reshaped my perspective on planning and purpose.

And now, as retirement looms, it’s not the allure of leisure that calls but the weariness of a job that has lost its luster. It’s a time to reflect on the true essence of life, which extends far beyond the confines of work.

I hope this rewrite captures the essence of your article while adding a touch of narrative flair to engage readers. If you have any specific elements you’d like to highlight or adjust, feel free to let me know!

In summary:

Reflect on life’s highlights and the stages of life. Think how carefree childhood was. How the responsibilities of adulthood changed us. Living helps to emphasize the importance of learning from our mistakes.

Think about the cycles of growing up, education, work, and family.

My realization is that life is more than just work. History and human nature tend to repeat themselves. Cycles of life.

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