Once Is Enough

Some lessons can be learned by simply hearing it. For example, the Bible has many lessons that are taught in church. We hear stories of other people making some pretty horrible choices, so we learn from it! Oh, geez, well I will NEVER not go to Ninevah when God tells me to because I will be swallowed by a whale *internally processing* oohhhhh follow God's directions the first time and spare yourself some crappy situations. Got it! 

However...

Some lessons simply have to be taught by action. One actually must make the mistake in order to learn from it. And I must say this has often been my choice of how I learn my lessons, unfortunately. What can I say? I am a bit stubborn, and gosh darn it I can do it I know I can oh dear this isn't working is it ok no. But I will say that I only make the mistake once. Because once is quite enough, thank you. 

But by taking part in the learning of the lesson, you inevitably end up getting burned by someone (the lesson teacher in some ways). One lesson I have learned recently is to not use people. 

A while back I knew of an acquaintance who had some information I would greatly benefit from. So I cozied up to this person. Sent them "howdy do?!" texts and thanked them profusely for their efforts to bestow upon me this precious information. They were wonderfully useful, and as soon as I got what I needed, I kind of forgot about them. Now I had no intention of doing this to them, honestly. I didn't rub my hands together, and maliciously decide to befriend this person until I extract the information. But it's what I did. 

And I didn't find out that I even did it until someone else did it to me. The exact same thing. My sweet, wise mom actually pointed it out to me. I was talking to her on the phone, complaining that I suspected a person was using me to get some info from me, and she shot back, "Well isn't that what you did to so-and-so?" 

Moms.... why do you have to call your children out on their crap!? Oi. 

That made me freeze. 

Yeah, that's what I did. 

And now I can tuck another lesson under my "Lessons Learned by Alyssa Grover!", also known as "Don't Do This!".

So for those of you who have been blessed by the ability to read and learn lessons, learn this!!!!! Don't feign friendship. We can't be friends with everybody, so if you don't like somebody it's ok! But don't think you can cozy up to someone and make them believe you enjoy their company. 

Learning this lesson once is quite enough for me, and I believe for you as well. Be kind, and treat others like you want to be treated.