At the time of writing this, I am 25 years old and have a good number of experiences. I have graduated high school and then college, started several jobs including my dream job, moved out of mom and dad's place and into my own, raised a dog, and watched him pass away. I even convinced an amazing woman to be my wife a few months back. These are all pretty standard things and have been accomplished by others before. But through all of these things and more, I have learned a lot, and certainly I am a different person today than I was even two years ago.
But, the growth had through all of those experiences has felt so... slow. Because it has been! I am only one person that can live one moment at a time. I am ontologically bound to time just like everyone else. I will have had a finite number of moments and experiences by the time I die.
In all fairness and honesty, experience teaches thoroughly. The lessons learned from first hand experience are definitely valuable and are the main source of learning for most people. Fool me once and all that. If first hand experience is the only teacher I have though, I will be battered, bruised, and still yet immature as the years go on. Additionally, like fashion some experiences expire! What worked yesterday may not work today. As Dave Ramsey says, "What has got us here is not what will take us there."
The cosmic irony found in all of this is that growth takes patience and time. In The Greatest Salesman in the World Og Mandino compares the olive tree and an onion. I love onions. They have layers (just like ogres)! They also only take 9 weeks to grow and are cheap and plentiful. On the other hand, olive trees can take decades to fully mature and can live for centuries. The older they get, the more beautiful and expensive they become. Mandino implores his readers to give up their lives as onions and instead start growing like the olive tree.
"Ok then, Ryan," you might ask, "how do we circumvent this mortal disability that we find ourselves in and become majestic olive trees?" I am glad you asked! Fortunately we have a few things going for us.
God made you human
We humans are special creatures. We have instinct, knowledge, and communication far greater than any other creature on this planet. If I can recognize the problem already stated, I can start to figure out how to grow despite my mortality. I can also know that I am not the first person to walk this earth or encounter problems. With these two pieces of knowledge, I can deduce that others know how to live fully!
What is happening to you now has already happened to someone before
Even though you will only experience the set experiences you have, there have been billions of other people who have had similar if not identical experiences. Most of these people have also lived before you, many of which have written about their experiences. From those collective experiences, principles and laws have been made to live by.
Principles are evergreen
Throughout the ages, truth has been collected and distilled. People that live healthy, happy, and full lives live by the same principles regardless of where or when they live. The same is true for strong family units and great civilizations, else they wouldn't have been strong or great. Unfortunately, each generation must relearn this wisdom. Fortunately, the previous generations have done a good job in writing it down and telling us how to do it!
It is up to each one of us to learn those principles and apply them to our own lives and interactions. If not we can only grow from our own personal experiences. I will be the same person in five years as I am today except for the people I meet and the books I read. It sounds like I have a lot to read and a lot of people to talk to!