Friday, April 17, 2015

Does Wisdom Really Come From Age?

I can't agree with the term "wisdom comes from age." I believe wisdom comes from experience and some of us just experience things a little faster than most. The other day I had come across a Facebook post by a woman who was born in the 1930s sharing a little bit about her past and the very first comment I had read was "It's true wisdom does come with age." But I started thinking is that really true? However, did this woman truly have wisdom because of her age or due to her experiences? In my opinion, people don't just grow up and become smart. No offense to the woman in the picture I am sure she has plenty of wisdom but that wisdom comes from her experiences as she has aged not her age.

There's a quote from C.S. Lewis that says "Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn." Our experiences shape who we are. These experiences change us some for the better others for the worse. Yet every single time we learn something. It's like as a child we get in trouble for something silly like pulling our sister's hair out. Now when we grow older we realize we will get in trouble for something like that and more than likely we won't be doing it again!

My experiences have shown me just how much to value life and most don't realize that until they get older and some massive, shocking event happens to them. Sadly for me that massive, shocking event has already happened. It just happened a little earlier than typical. As a teenager, I was faced with the events the average person doesn't face until they are in their elderly age. I'm not old. I am only sixteen and I feel like my experiences have made me wiser than your average. This disease made me grow up real fast. I haven't gotten your average teenage experiences. I instead have had to grow up and learn to live with adult situations like death and making major choices affecting the way I will live the rest of my life. Those choices not being what college I will attend but rather what treatment options will give me a better quality of life.

Without the experiences I have been faced with there would have been many opportunities I wouldn't otherwise have been given. I've met so many different people and have learned acceptance far beyond most kids my age. I have spent more time inside a hospital than many do in there lifetime going through surgeries, scans, procedures, emergency visits, and meeting more doctors than I could have ever cared to know. Yet all of this has taught me about strength and bravery. It's shown me that you are able to survive what you think to be the unsurvivable. That bravery is waking up everyday to face another day of the same pain that you fell to sleep with begging that you wouldn't wake up feeling that same pain you felt the day before. For some reason I have learned to live with the pain not because I am strong enough but because I have to. There's no other choice out there.

It's not my age that has given me this wisdom but those experiences I have been faced with. Sadly I was one of those who had their experiences happen faster than the others. My experiences have given me this wisdom and I am sure the woman in the photograph would feel the same way. In a way the comment "wisdom comes with age" degrades the young adults saying we are unable to have that knowledge because we aren't old enough to face those experiences that are faced by adults everyday. I have met plenty of adults who don't seem to posses this wisdom. If you walk into a high school and listen to some stories that teenagers have to share maybe that would change your mind. Teenagers face many hardships that have had to change our lives just as adults have. Many of us have gone through hell to get where we are today and that has given us the knowledge to carry on. We've learned we only get one chance at this life and we have to do it right.

8 comments:

  1. I would say that you are truly wise, far beyond your years!

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  2. I so agree with you! Wisdom comes from experience not age. truly wise beyond your years. Love everything you post!!

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  3. Yes, You are very wise and I love Your posts. Praying for You and that all teens that are sick are not forgotten.

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  4. I just found your blog and what a wise young lady you are. As a mom to a chronically ill daughter who was diagnosed at 15 years old (she is now 20 years old) with several congenital heart defects (that weren't diagnosed) which led to a rare heart condition with no cure that led to pulmonary arterial hypertension which is a rare lung disease with no cure. She wears an infusion pump with a needle in her skin to administer medication to her 24/7 which without it she would die. She also has to wear oxygen 24/7.

    My daughter is extremely shy and doesn't like being stared at or asked questions. I have no problem talking about her illness. I feel like you do when I see people stare...just ask me the question you want to know or ask her. I am so proud of her for the ways she just takes everything in stride ..... since her diagnosis at 15 years old she has been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, some major (not in severity ) food allergies from gluten to eggs to dairy, has seen many specialists due to low platelet count to stomach issues.

    I believe that if it wasn't for her health issues she wouldn't be the incredible artist that she is.

    Thank you for sharing your story.
    Hugs:o)
    Jane

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  5. Hi Michaela, I've just started to read your blog and am totally encouraged by you. You are such a strong, mature and insightful young lady. You really do put things in perspective and remind us of how beautiful yet fragile life is. Thankyou for sharing your journey.

    Emily xxx

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  6. Hi Michaela,
    Just discovered your blog after the Mighty Girl post was shared on Facebook (I'm in Toronto Canada) thanks for sharing your experiences so eloquently - you are an amazing writer and a very wise young woman! I will be keeping you in my prayers and following your blog, because you are the coolest!

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  7. Hey Michaela,

    Thank you for sharing your story. I am a pediatric PT and an author. I work mostly with ages 0-3 and your story is so inspirational to the parents of young kids with diagnoses like yours. Please visit me anytime on FB or at my blogs: www.MyBabyMoves.com or www.TheGreenAuthor.com. I wish you the best!

    Beth Green

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  8. Hi Michaela! I'm Wendy from Chicago. I have Chronic Babesia, which is a Malaria-like disease you get from the same tick that can give you Lyme disease. I've had it since I was 16 years old. I don't mean to butt in, but I just wanted to make sure you had been tested for Lyme disease. Your symptoms are very Lyme-like.

    This is the lab many people use to get tested for all tickborne infections. I enjoy your blog! www.igenex.com/Website

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