Experience Is Wasted on The Old

Have you ever heard the phrase, ‘Youth is wasted on the young’ ?

I’ve never had it directed at me before, but often, I hear it used by someone lamenting the wisdom/understanding they didn’t have when they were younger and perhaps stronger, more energetic, and had more time.

It makes sense to me but, the older I get the less it actually resonates.  I’m not someone that believes that there is some greater meaning to life that we are looking for, rather I think we have to work within the context we live to give our lives meaning.  Meaning comes from within.  However, the challenge herein is that one has to take responsibility for their actions, beliefs, and overall direction in life.  We have to discipline our instincts, our biological needs, and we have to cooperate to be a part of social groups.  This means we must understand ourselves, which is a lifelong journey.

Understanding ourselves means learning from our experiences.  This being said, I would like to introduce another phrase, ‘Experience is wasted on the old’.  Both phrases allude to the wasting of time.  The young person is encouraged to avoid stagnation and go and do things with the vast time horizon still in front of them.  The older person is encouraged not to waste time wishing they had their youth back, but get about the business of extracting knowledge from their experience and that of others.

We have probably all known someone or been the person at times, who just doesn’t seem to learn from mistakes.  However, from my perspective at least, there is something truly satisfying about coming up against a familiar problem and being able to navigate it more wisely because I’ve taken the time to learn from previous situations.  

To gain that wisdom we have to make the space in our lives to reflect.  We have to work to notice ourselves and not be afraid to look at our flaws and have the wherewithal to acknowledge strengths.  The difficulty with getting older is distraction.  As we get older, more and more narratives come at us that attempt to convince us that our attention and energy is needed in so many places: smartphones, emails, social media, news, politics, work, etc.  Many times diverting our attention to things we don’t control.  Thereby causing us to lose time that could have been put towards gaining wisdom from our experiences and putting that wisdom into action.

When I was a young man I spent lots of time isolated by no choice of my own.  It made me really comfortable being by myself.  In school I used to think the other kids were more mature than me because they had social lives and seemed busier than me.  However, inadvertently I got a great lesson in ownership or learning to focus on what I could control.  When I was young I didn’t fully recognize how much power I had over my own experience.  The older I get the more I recognize my own ability to shape how I experience life and what I’m learning along the way.

Age is no guarantee of wisdom.  Learning from experience is a choice.  Make time to do so.