I can still remember vividly the time in the Detroit International Airport, my connection was late and I literally had to run the entire stretch (if you've been to that airport, you are aware its the opposite of ideal for running between terminals).

I missed my flight. I was out of breath, sweaty, and pitiful. With no flights left that night to get me home.

Lesson learned....right? Well, sometimes. 

Maybe it's that phrase that allows our lessons to get off the hook so easily.

You know when you're running late and with every minute you get angrier, and start telling yourself why this happened and why you're "never" going to do this again?

I have had that very conversation with myself before, and then had it again down the road.

Why don't we learn our lessons after going through something the "hard" way when the "easy" way was one of our options all along?

Taking the stairs is allowing your previous failures to reoccur over, and over, and over. Using your own energy and resources to overcome literally the same step, 100 times.

Taking the escalator is allowing your previous failures to LIFT you, to carry you quicker and further, with less exertion on your behalf. 

An escalator is life in motion...a conveyor belt life's highlight (and lowlight) reels that comes back around to remind us of what we have learned, and offers to give us a lift. 

Take the easy way.