“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”

– Eleanor Roosevelt

Two years ago today, I remember one of the most important days or rather turning point that, I could have made the best decision out of a crisis. Even Justin Bieber said in his song Purpose “we weren’t necessarily put in the best position to make the best decisions.” Sometimes you think after you do. More often we rely on how we feel at the moment or the first thing that pops our brain. (Or maybe it’s just me?) What difference it does today is, what I call “The Five RE-markable” lessons taught, experienced, and shared throughout the years in decision-making. As we all are still and forever will be on the learning process, our ability as a “student of life” to process the learnings takes time to a point of encountering real tests of life. There comes into the decisions we make matter.

Jumping in the time capsule, the first RE-markable lesson I learned is when I REPEAT the mistakes I made, taught me I haven’t completely understood my lessons yet. In school before most of us could relate to this. When we thought we understood the subject well but during exams, we forgot or miss out other important detail. That’s the positive approach when you have to repeat. Repeat a report. Repeat a subject. Repeat the process of discomfort, pain, or sacrifice. We repeat the same mistakes until we learn where we made a mistake. We have room for improvement. We are not perfect to know everything. And that’s when I RELEARN the lessons taught before and now from the mistakes. Back in college days, before the final exams are given we used to have a pre-final examination to take. Its advantage is to prepare for what might possibly go out in the final exams. I would groan because of the long list pointers in every subject especially major subjects. But without the help of pre-final exam results, I might’ve missed out a lot of other important topics to be focusing on. I must relearn my lessons to avoid repeating the same mistakes when I RETAKE the exam. As long as we can see the sun in the morning, have air in our lungs and can hear the raindrops on the roof, we have second chances to a millionth. Never to be afraid to face life again after you fall down. It is not the end yet. Let not one failed exam hinder you to keep on learning and go to “school”. No one expects you to be perfect.  Even if you think so that people do, you know to yourself enough that you are only a human. Because even the greatest people or scientists have malfunction robots no one knows.

Now if you ask me what does school have to do about decision making in life? For two and more years or my entire existence, I have looked back and see how my life and yours is a school we all go to every day even before we realize it. Picture every challenge and testing like taking a quiz. And when the real challenge of our life comes, picture it as taking a major or board exams. And we gotta be prepared then,  the necessary answers we decide to make. When I finished retaking the exam it made me feel anxious, of course. For two years I thought if I did not get it right. Who does want to go over again and again, right? It’s tiring too. I just have to REMEMBER that the choices I make today affects how I will live in the future. I have to be wiser now.  But then, still, if I make another mistake, so what? I will have to get over it and deal with it until I master it. What is important is you learn and grow. The only way you will remember what you have “studied” is by taking the exam. Take a leap of faith that this time you will be better, or the results will be better. That YOU HAVE PASSED! And sometimes you are placed in that challenge again only a level higher than before. Like you are given the basic Accounting 101 examination on a more complex comprehensive exam.  There, you learn that you are growing. Remember how you were when you go through it and ask what is it now that you have to learn. And after all, it is not our past that defines who we are. It is not how bad we fail, or the things we did, or the decisions we did that defines us. It is our purpose – of why we exist. Who, what and how you are in the past is no longer the same you that is RESTORED the moment you decide to embrace the life-long learning process and live better now. Do not just sit in class, strive to be good and wise. Trust the learning process that you will make the good and wise decision, too, next time. Until then, life goes on as we go on learning too.