Think back to the first time you signed up on any given social media outlet. What kind of online community did you want to belong to? What kinds of “friends” were you hoping to find?
All of us share an innate desire to be “liked”. We all operate best as human beings when we are in healthy, supportive relationships. We all deserve to have people in our lives that truly enjoy us and choose to be with us. Friends that will move towards us, rather than away, when life gets hard. Those who will always show up for us, whether to celebrate our best days or sit with us in our pain.
Women have an amazing capacity to show up for one another.
Hindsight was created to be a safe space for all of us to share our stories. To share our celebrations and our struggles. To reflect on all the life that we have experienced to date and how we’ve grown as a result. To seek advice from a supportive community when we need it. To find solidarity in our roles as women.
The online community provides unlimited opportunities to get to know people from all around the world. Women who are mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends of all ages, races, cultures and countries.
Everyone has something to teach us.
One of the best ways I believe we can show up for one another is by sharing the wisdom we have acquired collectively through our life experiences. Things we know “now” that we wish we had known “before”. Before making important life decisions. Before the “aha” moments, the heartache, or the pain of poor choices.
Many of us seem to insist on learning the hard way. I know that’s been true for me too many times to count. But what I know for sure today, is that it doesn’t always have to be so hard.
One of my favorite quotes by Pastor John Maxwell states,
“It’s said that a wise person learns from his mistakes. A wiser one learns from others’ mistakes. But the wisest person of all learns from others’ successes.”
We have an incredible opportunity to learn from one another. To ask important questions. To provide perspectives and possibilities that may be hard to see on the “before” side of any decision. To share wisdom that has more often than not cost us a great deal to acquire. To give others hope that they can walk through hard things informed, rather than unaware, expecting the best outcome possible.
Wisdom is so valuable to God that the Bible states in Proverbs 4:7, “The beginning of wisdom is this: get wisdom. Though it cost you all you have, get understanding.”
“Though it cost you all you have.”
Wow. Anything that important to God should get our attention. Our choices and decisions are always going to cost us something. May we choose things that God would choose for us, and not settle for less than. Things to prosper us and not harm us. May we choose to tap into the example of those surrounding us who show us what it looks like daily to trust God, come what may.
God gave us one another to lean on and learn from. He knew that by doing so, we would spare ourselves so much potential pain. The bonus of seeking advice or asking for help comes when we choose to enter into authentic community with others. God created us for connection. When we enter into safe relationships, we never have to walk through hard things alone.
We need each other.
Merriam-Webster defines hindsight as, “The knowledge and understanding that you have about an event only “after” it has happened.”
Dictionary.com’s version states, “Recognition of the realities, possibilities, or requirements of a situation, event, decision etc., “after” its occurrence.”
Hindsight provides us with the gift of 20/20 vision . . . “after” we need it. It’s easy after the fact to clearly discern what was so difficult to see in the midst of our circumstances.
Why wait passively until “after” for knowledge and understanding? Why not recognize in advance “the realities, possibilities or requirements of a situation, event, or decision” we are faced with today by proactively preparing as best we can? We need to tap into one of the greatest resources available to us all to help us do just that. One another.
Merriam-Webster used hindsight in a sentence, and I loved the example so much that I used it as my blog’s tag line.
“In hindsight, it’s clear there were alternatives.”
Yes. Yes there were. It makes me laugh out loud every time. It’s what I say to my younger self on a regular basis when I recall so many questionable decisions I made growing up.
Looking back on your own life, what is one thing you wish your younger self would have known prior to making an important decision? If you are facing a difficult decision today, what questions or concerns do you have?
hindsight 