Learning Unteachable Lessons

We have all had that one person who swears by something they have done or discovered and is now almost screaming in our faces to try and get us to do the same.

We trust this person, we believe this person, and we know with clear certainty that they have stumbled upon something that greatly improves the trajectory and well-being of their life.

And yet, all we can do is smirk, and observe their groundbreaking discovery as an outsider, as though we are some sort of special snowflake.

It’s almost a ‘good for you’ feeling, a feeling of ‘that’s cute, you’ve found something that has drastically impacted your life, but if I were to try, it would never have the same effect’.

It’s almost as though we believe that from our tragic and complicated hardships, we could never experience such positive results from something so simple.

Whatever the cause of our dismission, it stops us from even trying.

I’m sure many of us can even relate to this from being on the opposite end, someone you care about is currently experiencing something you’ve gone through, and are trying to get them to do what helped you, to no avail.

Trying to teach someone an unteachable lesson causes extreme frustration, you just cannot understand why they refuse to budge.

My Personal Experience

There is a reason I am writing this, and it is because I recently stumbled upon an unteachable lesson myself.

Despite the constant mention and advice about early morning walks, I never considered it for myself. For whatever reason, it wasn’t an option for me.

However, due to unrelated reasons, I thought a short walk shortly after waking up might help reduce some negative things I was experiencing throughout the day, so, I began walking.

To my amazement, the walk was a fantastic inclusion, it not only helped mitigate what I was experiencing but also did what these people were saying it would do all along.

Although I wanted what they said it would do, I, for whatever reason, just wouldn’t try.

This was a lesson I could never have been taught, I simply had to experience myself.

You may be wondering why someone who teaches actionable things that help improve the lives of others is attempting to teach a lesson on unteachable lessons.

It’s because these lessons are so profound that even the awareness of them could be of use, but also, I think people can increase the probability of stumbling upon them.

Increasing The Probability

 As these lessons can improve people's lives so greatly, I think the least we can do is live in a manner that increases our chances of experiencing them.

If you’re thinking that from now on you’ll just refrain from ignoring the lessons that other people have taught, think again. I’m not saying this will do you harm, but I don’t think it’ll have the same impact.

I believe the reason these unteachable lessons hit us so hard is that we’re taught them at the exact moment we need them most, and it’s the naturality of our experience that determines the magnitude of their impact.

Okay, enough chatter, how do we learn them?

Unfortunately, what follows will not be some magical formula that attracts mystical experiences, instead, it may be a kind of ape-like attempt to forcefully get what you want. 

Anyhow, here it is.

I believe, that to increase the probability of coming across an unteachable lesson, one must simply take more action.

Think about this logically, to learn something yourself, you must do something that you’re yet to do or haven’t done in some time, this means freeing yourself from the mundanity of life, and trying something new.

To learn something new, you must do something new, and it’s from getting through enough failed attempts you’ll find the one succession, and it’ll more than likely be a big one. 

Again, this isn’t some groundbreaking, newfound advice on how to go about learning these unteachable lessons. Instead, let it be a subtle reminder, and another reason why you should always be looking to leave your comfort zone, and experience as much life as possible.

An unteachable lesson is one small decision away from us all. It’s up to us to have enough courage to make such decisions and take subsequent action.

So, if you’d like to experience one of these, aim up, take more action, fail more, leave your comfort zone and go experience as much as humanly possible. Many unteachable lessons will emerge as a result.