I am feeling really grateful and extremely excited about all my upcoming shows! In order to give my throat a little relief from all of the practicing I have been doing, I’ve been enjoying a lot of teas. 😉 One tea that I really enjoy is Traditional Medicinals’ Throat Coat. It makes my throat feel so much better! 🙂 An extra bonus to these teas, is that each bag of tea comes with a little quote. 🙂
Sometimes, I like to take the quote off the string and hang it up on my bulletin board. 😉 For the quote below, that’s what I did. 😛
James Russell Lowell said:
One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning.
What a powerful quote! I believe you can look at this quote two ways. In one way, you can look at it to mean that people can tell you that that you should not do something but that their words of advice won’t mean much to you until you experience it yourself and recognize that it was a poor decision.
On the other hand, you can take an optimistic view on this quote. You can look at it to mean that you should get out and try things because even if it hurts you a little bit, you’re going to benefit more from doing it than from being too afraid to try. In this interpretation, you are going against the warnings you are receiving from others and then actually finding out that it was better that you went against what they said.
When thinking about the optimistic interpretation of this quote, I reflected upon my decision to devote my time and energy to being a musician. I remember when I began telling others that I was working on my first album. Although I received positive feedback from some, I also received negative feedback from others. You know like, “Why? Are you trying to make it big like everyone else?” or “That’s a huge investment,” or “Okay. We’ll see.”
It was hard not to be discouraged by that negative feedback, but I continued to work on my album. Yes, it was a TON of work, but I am SO GLAD that I did it! 🙂
So tell me this, what is it that you aren’t doing with your life because you are afraid of taking the risk?
Never give up on your dreams. ❤
Allison Merten 
Wow so neat I found this site explaining and interpreting the tea bag quote! I also have tea and had this quote on my everyday detox tea. I can relate to both ideas of thought. I also had to learn by experience on many items in my life. Currently though I have been stuck. I’m teetering back and forth about whether to go forward for a teaching credential or another degree to improve my lot in life. I keep backing out! So…I’m at an age that I need to take the leap. Can’t hurt to try. I will probably feel worse later, if I don’t and wish I had…Thanks for the analyzation!
Carolyn, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts! I hope that you are able to make the decision about your education that will best help you align with your true self! 💚