Been there, done that

If you've already done something and now are doing a different thing....does that mean that you're now "past all of that"?

Have you evolved?

I hear the expression, "Been there, done that" every once in a while and I sometimes wonder how that applies.  I'm a big believer in experience.  I think true wisdom is time spent + lessons learned.  Time spent - lessons learned often results in someone saying, "been there, done that".  Having "been there" or "done that" doesn't mean I've learned a thing.  I haven't necessarily proved or disproved anything either.  I've simply been there and done that.

If, out of the passion of my younger years, I pursued something whole heartedly and failed...does that make it wrong?  Often I'll do the right thing the wrong way.  I'll get excited about something and go for it...and fail.  I don't think through the smartest way to do something or the smartest time to do something...or I just run into problems.  Months or years later when I hear about someone else pursuing that same thing - I'm tempted to drop the "been there, done that" line on them.  In fact I've probably used a variation of that line hundreds of times.

Sometimes I "evolve" to a safer course.  Because I used to do one thing, and now do another thing...that doesn't mean that I'm beyond that first thing.  I'm not more mature or better, smarter or more disciplined.  Often I've just learned how to play it safe.  I use all the smart phrases - I'm a family man now - I'm too old to do that or to start over.

Looking back two or three years/decades - do you think you're going for it as much as you used to before you got so smart?
or are you just kind of playing it safe?