Learning a lesson: The Titanic and Cheese

Posted on March 24, 2022 by Lois Lavrisa , One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.

How many times do you need to learn a lesson?

For me, sometimes it seems like 1,000,000,000 times (okay, a bit of an exaggeration, but you get my drift)

And sometimes it only takes one time and I can learn a lesson and move on.

For instance, as a child when I first touched a hot pot on a stovetop, one time was enough.

Check mark – lesson learned.

Although, I have accidentally burned myself countless times, not knowing that something was hot… after all, we’re all human and imperfect.

Another example of a quick lesson learned.

When I saw the movie The Exorcist. It only took only ONE time for me to learn a lesson after watching it.

That lesson?

I knew that I 100% HATED scary, horror type movies. (I still have nightmares about the pea soup, head twirling, manic possessed incident)

Then again, even though I learned my lesson about avoiding scary, horror type movies – sometimes things are not what they seem.

Case in point. They billed The Titanic movie as an epic, action-packed romance between the fictional characters Jack and Rose, set against the ill-fated maiden voyage of the R.M.S. Titanic.

To this day, they still consider The Titanic one of the best love stories of all time. (I love me some love stories!)

The marketing lured me to see the movie with the promise of the greatest love story of all time.

(Yes, I know the history the Titanic catastrophe.)

It had romance for sure. Building from the beginning of the movie and continuing throughout the movie.

However, in the second half of the movie, all hell (as well as the ship) broke loose.

And what followed in the movie was terrifying, horrific and frightening. More heart crushing was knowing that 1,500 genuine souls perished on the R.M.S. Titanic.

I cried watching how the movie depicted how those who were trapped might have felt, and what they might have said, and how they acted as they perished….

In my opinion, the movie should have been classified in the horror genre.

But I digress…

So although I learned my lesson about avoiding horror movies, as I found out, sometimes things are not what they seem. But, I can control seeing movies I know are 100% horror movies.

How do I handle other movies that might have some parts of horror in them, like The Titanic ?

Sometimes I choose to take a chance and see a movie if I know that a majority is not scary. And I also accept that the scary bits might cause a dreadful night’s sleep with weird dreams.

I am control to make that choice.

So, now what about the lessons I seem to have to keep learning repeatedly that I might be able to stop, or avoid or at the very least, somewhat control?

For example…

Trusting and relying on someone who continues to be untrustworthy and unreliable

Continuing to help someone who refuses to accept help

Going back again into a situation that usually has an unfavorable outcome, but hoping now for a favorable outcome

Hoping a hateful relative will change, giving them the benefit of the doubt, and allowing them to be in your presence only to be subjected to their vileness again

Knowing from countless experiences that a family member is a compulsive liar, yet trusting what they say only to find out you were lied to, again

Knowing I get bloated, crampy, a stuffy nose and tired after eating diary, but I still have a big helping of cheese lasagna and feel horrible afterwards….

You all get the point.

You might ask, how can we stop repeating the same old same old….???

• Know that learning is a lifelong process.
• Accept that we learn by making mistakes.
• Learn that after falling down or failing, you can pick up the pieces and put them back together
• Keep your optimism and faith
• Choose to grow, learn, discover what went wrong and become wiser for the future
• Do not give in to unwanted situations
• Look for the lesson it is trying to teach you
• Stay away from dairy and horror movies :)

Keep being the wonderful imperfect human being that you are:)

Yours always…wishing you epic-ness and joy-

Lois