Lessons in Failure

One of the things I wish I had learned more from when I was younger are the failures that I experienced. Of which there are many. Now that I have lived a little bit of life I find that as my responsibilities increase so do my opportunities to fail in huge life changing ways. For instance in high school I bought my first car for $1800, which at the time was a lot of money. A few months later the clutch went out and I was forced to replace it. This ended up costing me more money and I discovered the horrible money pit that cars are. However, in the grand scheme of things this was not a life altering amount of money that I spent on this car, and I learned a valuable lesson, that cars rarely cost what is says on the sticker. I learned a lesson about cars and money because my parents put it on me to fund my own transportation and figure out what I needed to do for myself. Looking back I really appreciate the choice that they made for me because in a relatively harmless environment they taught me a huge lesson about responsibility and money management. And if there is a short list of things that cause my wife and I to argue money is definitely on the list. Now as I am older $1800 doesn't seem like so much money when we are buying and selling houses for hundreds of thousands of dollars and leaving college with tens of thousands in debt. But the lesson is still the same, steward what you are given well and be responsible living within your means. You will not have as many toys but you will be happier in life and relationships.