In watching the Australian Open tennis tournament, I was listening to the commentators talk about a match up between two players.  One of whom has not been successful in beating the other player.  They spoke about strategy and how the player that repeatedly had lost previously needed to change something in their arsenal in order to have a fighting chance.  As I was absorbing the comments by the sportscasters, I felt that this example could transcend a tennis court in country that is on the other side of the world.  In life we are faced with many obstacles or tests if you will, that require us to walk through those difficult days in order to get to the outcome on the other side.  Being in the middle of test or an uncomfortable situation is never something that one hopes for.  What is a common factor in the outcome in any of those instances, is that we come through and are usually better for it.  In a perfect world, we would all be able to grow without sacrifice and be in control of everything at all times.  The reality is that we do not live in a perfect state and therefore we are destined to walk and encounter difficulties in the midst of our life's journey.  As parents, people always tell their children to learn from their mistakes and to approach their decision making a little differently, based upon the wisdom and knowledge of what they have learned.  Sadly, kids tend to not want to listen to their parents as they feel that they are quite capable of making decisions for themselves, particularly at adolescent ages.  It is only after encountering some periods of disappointment due to the consequences of their actions, that they realize that perhaps they should have paid closer attention to their parent's advice.  If you have situations that manifest themselves in your life and you feel that you do not want to walk through these issues anymore, then make sure that you are changing your strategy. Learn from the things that did not work the last time and give yourself the opportunity to grow from the lesson that is presented to you.  We can all fail at times to learn from our prior life lessons, however, it is up to us to be resolved with our strategy and that we give ourselves a good fighting chance to win in the future.  The better we get at recalculating a failed strategy, the better our chances will be that we claim a much needed victory that was a stepping stone towards our own personal growth.