It is in the process of living that we learn

Every year around this time, I imagine myself standing at a large, imposing, wooden door. I’m standing on one side while reaching for the door knob. I nervously turn the knob because I know I’m leaving one year behind to head into the unknown. Once the door is opened, I carefully walk across the threshold into a new year.

This “changing-of the-years” process is one I take very seriously. I give much thought to the actual process. In the wise portion of my brain, it is always my goal to leave the worst parts of the previous year behind me. But I also realize that everything that happened during the previous 365 days happened for a reason. Good or bad, without the experiences of each day, I wouldn’t be at the place I am today.

Whether we want to or not, we learn with each year. What is important is to recognize the lessons we learned and attempt to use those lessons to make better choices in the future. We have to own our mistakes before we can ever change the outcome of our future endeavors. This is how we make progress as we live each new day that we are given.

Last December, I turned 56 years old. I’ve experienced a lot during those 56 years, and have learned many lessons while making a ton of mistakes. The older I become, the more I realize what things really are important in life and what things don’t matter at all. It’s the journey that makes us wiser. It is in the process of living that we learn the secrets to being our best selves.

I have always said we don’t know where we are going until we see where we already have been. I was reminded of this the other day through one of my Facebook posts. Over the Christmas holidays, I visited some dear friends who had purchased a watercolor I had painted almost 20 years ago. I posted the painting on Facebook and one of my followers asked me a question that gave me pause: “Do you ever look at your early work and critique it, and think how you would improve it today?” the lady asked.

Indeed, I do. It is always very interesting to me as an artist to look back at the creative work I did decades ago. I’ve found that time has to pass in order for us to see things more clearly. There were parts of the painting where I liked the creative choices I had made. There were also a few places where I probably would have done things a little differently. Still, I wouldn’t change one single stroke.

Without having done that artwork all those years ago and solving those creative problems to the best of my ability at the time, I wouldn’t be where I am creatively today. Just like creativity, life builds upon itself. Hopefully, with each year, we learn to handle whatever it is that life sends our way a little better than we did the time before.

Sometimes it takes us many years to learn. I think life is geared to teach us lessons on our journey. The beginning of a new year is the perfect opportunity to pause and look back at what events led us to where we are today. When we do this, it gives us needed perspective.

On the first day of January, I chose to do something I love to do — draw. Since bees are special to me, it wasn’t difficult to decide what to draw. When I finished the bee, I compared it with a few of the many bees I have done over the years.

Was it better? I hope so. Does it mean the others aren’t as good? No. It just means I’ve drawn a lot of bees and I hope with each drawing they — and I — continue to get a little better!

This story was originally published January 5, 2017 at 11:47 AM with the headline "It is in the process of living that we learn."