I think we are a product of all our experiences.

"Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from

         time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught."
                                                                                         Oscar Wilde

Growing up in a nuclear family with both my parents working professionals, as a child I was left to myself for long periods of time. I am thankful for those circumstances, for the lessons I have learn't from self-exploration and discovery I don't think I would've learn from any external source. It is in every parent's nature to be protective. I believe falling down and learning to get up is better than someone explaining to you what happens when you fall.
Learning to fend for oneself and to make choices for yourself is very important to me and whether it was to eat ice-cream before my lunch (when I was seven years old) to what I should do with my life, I have always found it easier to make decisions drawing from my experiences.
Life teaches us through various experiences and success follows the ones who learn from them quickly. Not everything that one should know can be taught by others, some are instincts and some are the products of our experiences. As I grow older and turn back the pages of my life I would know that I have lived life to the fullest, not by all the academic degrees but from the experiences I would have had. 
I hope my readers are inspired to experience all that life has to offer because life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forward.