Part of experience is knowing what’s coming more often.
The stress of novelty – even good novelty – can be overwhelming. For example, today I am taking 43 high school students to Spain. Some of them have never left our state before, let alone the country. I have little doubt that the newness of this experience will leave them in an emotionally vulnerable place.
That’s good! Emotionally vulnerable is where we do a lot of growing!
But the gift of experience is in being able to anticipate these situations. I don’t know exactly what challenges will come our way during this concert tour, but I can anticipate that there will be challenges, and I know from past travel the general realm of those challenges. I’m immune to some of the stress of the trip because of that.
The bad news is that I won’t have quite the life-changing experience that my students will on this trip. I’ve made enough similar trips that I won’t have the same broken-open feeling I know some of them will.
The good news is, I get the gift of being able to guide them through that experience, help them with the hard parts, and make sure they have the best possible takeaways. What an honor that only comes with past experience.