Experience is one thing you can’t get for nothing

Experience is one thing you can’t get for nothing. – Oscar Wilde

Experience says: "Use a clean fork!"

What does that mean?
You might be able to bum a cigarette, invite yourself over to a friend’s house for a free lunch, or even get some free advice from a web site. But experience, it doesn’t come that cheap.

Experience, by definition, comes to you by way of having done something. The things that turned out well are usually labeled as ‘success,’ the things that do not are often labeled as ‘experience.’

In the quote, he is simply stating that experience doesn’t come free, it comes at a price. The price will vary by circumstance, but experience is never achieved without some toll.

Why is experience important?  
I would add that experience isn’t just doing something, but learning something from having done it. Without some learning, is it really experience, or just beating your head against a wall?

Experience is how we learn when we can’t find a short-cut. By short-cut, I mean a mentor, a book, or some other method of learning without having to do it first. If you can’t find a shortcut, you have to learn at the “school of hard knocks,” as the old saying goes.

For me, physical skills require experience. Whether it’s how to move your body while dancing, or how to move your mouth to make a sound in a foreign language, I find that experience is required. How about you?

Where can I apply this in my life?
Experience is everywhere. What are you trying to learn? Do you have problems with balance? Find a crack in the sidewalk and walk on it like you were part of a high-wire act, balancing carefully. Perhaps a square curb could be used as a make-believe balance beam.

What else do you want to learn about? It’s really that easy. Pick a topic, do some research, find a mentor or support group and get busy. Don’t forget that safety is important, so don’t do anything too stupid. You have to be alive to learn from your experience, right?

Life itself is a great teacher. As babies we learned about gravity by experience and the consequences of trying to defy it. We paid for it in terms of falls, bruises and other injuries. There was always a price to pay for the experience, wasn’t there?

Up to this point, I’ve been talking about learning deliberately and in a favorable situation. However, there are other learning experiences. Have you ever lost your temper and broken something? Depending what is broken, that can be an expensive experience, right?

Auto accidents can also be an experience that comes at a significant price. Both in dollars for repairs and medical expenses, and in pain from injuries, or from loss of life or limb. That’s how it goes at the school of hard knocks. Learning by experience can be painful and expensive.

Ever try to start a business? I haven’t but I’m sure that there was quite a lot to experience in the process of getting such a thing put together, wasn’t there? Permits, forms, fees, each step costing time and money. Yes, you got quite an experience, but it had a cost to you as well.

Even marriage is an experience. No matter how well or poorly it goes, no matter how long it lasts, there will be experiences, and it will exact a price. It may take a toll on your finances, your emotional well being, even on your sanity, but you will pay for the experience. But it isn’t all bad. Sometimes the toll to be paid is just pocket change.

The point is that you will have learning experiences throughout your life. It will be up to you to manage how much you pay in exchange for the experience. Learning from your experiences, like learning from your classes at school, means you won’t have to do it over again, right?

Take your time, enjoy yourself (as much as possible), and above all, learn from your experience. Then, when you have the opportunity, pass the experience on to someone else, so they can learn at a discounted rate. That is what helps families and communities grow.

From: Twitter, @iheartquotes
confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/o/oscarwilde101402.html
Photo by Helga Weber