The Secret to Wisdom With Age

The older I get the better I understand why they say old people are wise. The reason most old people are wise is they have made that mistake before. Life is very interesting and people who think they know it all are probably in trouble.

If you are like most people, you have faced some serious decisions in your life where you had to make a choice and decide what the "best" thing to do was. The best book I ever read was by F. Scott Peck called The Road Less Traveled. I probably read that book four times and every time I read it I learned something new about life and about myself.

A few of the salient points I remember in that book is the explanation of how human beings constantly keep making the same mistake over and over again. As I recall the example given was of a man walking down a street or sidewalk and stepping in a big hole every time he walked that path. Eventually he learned the consequences of stepping in that hole and he began to walk around the hole. That is the wisdom of old age in my opinion. You know the consequences of taking unwise action because you have "stepped in the hole" repeatedly. You can tell younger people to avoid that mistake because you have made that mistake so many times.

The other thing I learned is when you come to the fork in the road and have to decide what is the best road to travel, Peck tells you don't worry so much because the decision you make is the right decision. I struggled with that concept. After reading it many times I realized that he is correct. If intelligent human beings carefully consider their choices the choice they make is the right choice. If you accept that premise and don't look back, you will be much happier. That decision making process is at the core of his title the road less traveled. The one other quote I keep on my computer which I still at age 60 have to learn to heed is" You will be wise not to seek too much from others". I don't know who to attribute that quote to but it has a lot of truth in it and if you understand it you won't be disappointed nearly as much. The one other quote is" When you get to the goal line, always carry the ball across yourself" The obvious wisdom in those quotes is you are responsible for your own decisions and happiness so you need to be the one to make the final decision.

I have tried to teach that wisdom to younger people but they listen as well as I did, which is probably why they will eventually "step in that hole'" a few more times.

I am a Board Certified Ophthalmologist who has been in practice for 30 years.
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