Ah, life—forever the relentless teacher. It’s like being back at school, except this time there are no lunch breaks, you’re the only student, and the teacher happens to be a bit of a sadist. You see, life has this funny little habit of sending the same lesson your way over and over again, until you finally get the message. It’s like when you ignore the washing-up for a bit too long—it doesn’t go away, does it? It just sits there, getting more grim until you can’t ignore it anymore.
Here’s the kicker: whatever lesson you're meant to learn, it will keep coming back around until you actually learn from it. Think of it as the world’s most persistent boomerang. Or that clingy ex who just can't take a hint and keeps sliding into your DMs, texts, WhatsApp and every single messaging app you use. No matter how much you dodge, avoid, or deny, life will keep serving you the same old dish—until you take a bite and finally digest its meaning.
“Why Does This Keep Happening to Me?!”
You’ve probably uttered these words more than once, usually in a tone that suggests the universe has a personal vendetta against you. Maybe it’s when you’re stuck in traffic for the third time in a week because you still haven’t figured out the meaning of “leave ten minutes earlier.” Or it could be when you’re consistently attracting the same type of person into your life who brings nothing but drama, despite swearing off them last time you were neck-deep in nonsense.
These recurring problems are not mere coincidences. Oh no, my friend. Life's got a plan here, and that plan is to repeatedly smack you on the head with the same lesson until it finally sinks in. It’s a bit like being whacked with a soggy newspaper by the universe, except the newspaper headlines read: “Are You Getting It Yet?” The irony is that while you may blame bad luck, other people, or even Mercury being in retrograde, the common denominator in all these situations is—you guessed it—YOU.
The Definition of Insanity
You know the saying, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”? It’s spot on. If you always drink two cups of coffee at 9 pm and then wonder why you can’t sleep, you’re not being tested by the caffeine gods—you’re simply refusing to learn. It's like setting your alarm for 7 am, pressing snooze six times, and still being surprised when you’re late for work. There’s a pattern here, and if you’re not catching onto it, the universe is going to keep sending it your way like a relentless telemarketer convincing you that your ducts need cleaning or that you need to get a new debit machine or you need to clean the gutters – you catch my drift!
The funny thing is, we often think the solution is just a small tweak—setting an extra alarm or buying decaf coffee. We believe that just nudging things slightly will change the outcome. But unless you’re willing to change your behaviour or your approach, those little 
tweaks are about as effective as trying to hold a door shut in a storm. The lesson will persist, waiting for you to have your ‘Eureka!’ moment, and it won’t let up until you do.
Why Learning the Lesson Changes Everything
Here’s the magic trick: once you actually absorb the lesson, life stops being so repetitive. When you finally decide to communicate rather than sulk in the silent treatment with your significant other, or realise that those “amazing deals” on payday are why you’re perpetually broke, the cycle starts to break. It’s a bit like levelling up in a game. You solve the puzzle, get the gold star, and then the game gets harder with an entirely new challenge. But at least it’s a different challenge. The good news is, you can only improve from here. The bad news? Well, new lessons are just as stubborn and won’t rest until you learn from them too.
So what exactly happens when you do learn the lesson? Well, it’s like finally finding the remote control after tearing apart the entire living room—it feels like magic. Life moves on to something else. You might still have challenges, but at least you’re no longer tripping over the same metaphorical banana peel every other day. You evolve. You start spotting patterns more quickly and can make adjustments before things go pear-shaped. It’s a bit like realising that takeaway pizza three nights a week doesn’t do wonders for your waistline or your bank balance. Once you make that connection, you find new habits to form (or at least switch to a healthier option of takeaway!).
Spotting the Patterns
The first step in changing any of this is to spot the pattern. Keep bumping into the same type of person who drives you up the wall? There’s a lesson there, lurking in plain sight. Perhaps you need to set firmer boundaries, or maybe it’s a matter of learning to walk away sooner rather than playing ‘fixer-upper’. If you're constantly complaining about being overworked, but somehow you keep volunteering for every new project or task that comes your way, perhaps it’s time to learn the art of saying "no" without feeling like a villain.
Keep getting burned by procrastination? Maybe it's time to stop hoping that “future you” will be in the mood to deal with it later. Spoiler alert: future you is not. Future you is just as fond of Netflix as current you. Learning from the pattern means noticing the loop and deciding you’re done repeating it. It means saying, “You know what, I’ve been here before, and I’m not taking the same old exit ramp this time.”
Simple Everyday Examples (Because, Let's Face It, We All Do This!)
The Washing Machine Woes: You keep overloading the washing machine, thinking it’ll be fine, and then wonder why your clothes come out looking like they've survived a spin-cycle apocalypse. Stop. Do smaller loads. The lesson here is literally: less is more. If your clothes look like they’ve been through a blender, it’s because you keep making the same mistake. The universe isn’t against you; you’re just really bad at laundry. 
The Dodgy Alarm: Setting six alarms every morning but still never getting up on the first ring? You’re not fooling anyone. There’s no magic combination of alarm sounds that will turn you into a morning person. The lesson? Go to bed earlier. Or just admit that mornings aren’t for you and get a night job. It’s okay to own who you are rather than trying to force yourself into a routine that doesn’t suit you.
Overbooking Your Calendar: You say “yes” to every social event like you’ve suddenly turned into the life of the party, and then spend the week stressing out because you have absolutely no free time. You don’t need to RSVP “yes” to everything! “No” is a complete sentence. If your calendar looks like a colourful painting, it’s time to declutter your commitments. The lesson here is learning to value your downtime as much as your social time.
The Overdraft Drama: If you’re always skint (broke) a week before payday, yet you’ve convinced yourself that those mid-month sales are “too good to miss,” there’s a lesson hidden in your overdraft fees. Budgeting isn’t just for people with mortgages and kids. You might want to start thinking of your finances as a friend you’d rather not upset every month. If you keep repeating this one, life will keep sending you those bank charges until you finally learn that some deals just aren’t worth it.
Acceptance: The Key to Learning and Moving Forward
The truth is, life will keep throwing these lessons at you like unwanted mail until you face up to them. Ignoring them won’t make them go away, but accepting them and making changes can. It’s about being honest with yourself. You don’t need to be perfect, you just need to be better than last time.
Acceptance doesn’t mean resigning yourself to a life of repetitive problems. It means taking a step back, recognising the part you’re playing, and making a conscious decision to do something different. It’s a bit like when you’re learning to drive. At first, you stall the car every time you come to a stop (if you drive a manual). But after a while, you figure out the clutch control and start to get the hang of it. Life’s lessons are much the same. You might stall a few times, but eventually, you’ll figure out how to keep things moving without that sudden jolt.
Moving On: Graduating to New Challenges
When you’ve finally learned a lesson, it’s like being handed a diploma—except there’s no graduation ceremony, just a new, shiny challenge waiting around the corner. You’ve outgrown the previous scenario, so life throws you a new one. Think of it as ‘advanced adulting.’ The new challenges may be more complex, but you’ve developed resilience along the way, and that’s what matters.
The beautiful part of learning is that the struggles that used to throw you off balance become stepping stones, not stumbling blocks. Each lesson learned prepares you for something bigger and better. So, as much as it might feel like the universe is out to get you, it’s really just out to help you grow—even if that growth involves being slapped on the head with reality a few times.
So next time life starts feeling like déjà vu, it’s not a glitch in the matrix; it’s a not-so-subtle hint from the universe. It’s time to stop circling around the same problem and start doing something different. Because let’s face it, we’ve all had enough of being pelted with soggy newspapers. Learn the lesson, and let the universe move on to its next plot twist. Trust me, it’s better.
Stop being a CRAP MAGNET! Read that blog – it will start making sense!
