The Answer to the Question at the Bottom is Easy!
Do I learn more from hearing or one’s sharing of hardships or success?
It depends. If one shares success from the perspective of bragging about how they achieve x, y, or z, there may be some value. Still, over the years, I have had the sad but invaluable opportunity to hear from so many women and men who share horrific stories of violence, abuse, or conflict in their lives since a young age where you ask yourself how the hell they made it to today.
Just a few stories.
Stories from women whose husbands attempted to murder them.
Partners who ridiculed, insulted, and demeaned them every day.
A woman whose brother and father were sexually assaulting her, with the mother denying any knowledge.
Men who were too ashamed to admit abuse by their wives.
Women at work facing sexual abuse, with management ignoring it because the person brought in record sales for the company.
These stories tear at your heart strings but also give you insight into the force of nature some people are.
Hopefully, these stories have made me a better violence prevention & self-defence instructor and even a better human.
These are the people who make the best teachers, in my opinion, to help others hopefully never experience what they have experienced.
Ask me if I would rather have a compassionate, caring, empathetic person with a tragic history but no self-defence experience teaching others OR someone with years of martial arts or self-defence experience teaching but lacking the traits mentioned above. The answer is simple!