Inspecting bad experiences

When we have a bad experience, it’s all too easy to conflate the experience itself with whatever bad event we encountered.

We have a bad date (or a unrequited relationship), so we tell ourselves we’ll never find true love.

Or, perhaps, we had a bad boss. But we convince ourselves we don’t like the job.

It’s takes a tremendous amount of perception (and an awareness of synecdoche) to discern the bad from the good. To dissect the real, factual details of an experience, from the story we’ve told ourselves since.

But the hard work of true discernment is essential to genuine understanding and advancement.

Because, after all, a bad experience will forever be a burden until you can accurately assess what went wrong.