Embrace Your Mistake
“Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way.” ~ Al Franken
Have you ever messed up? Done something wrong? Made a mistake, big or small, that affected not only you, but those around you?
Sure, we all have. But I want to take a moment to encourage you to look at mistakes a little differently than you may have before.
We all can probably get in touch with that feeling of making a mistake from when we were young children. That feeling of being in trouble when we know we’ve been caught or found out. I don’t know anyone who likes that feeling. Some of us learned to fess up and take the punishment. Others learned to lie about it and try to avoid consequences at all costs. Either way, there’s still a mistake that’s been made, and there will be a cost.
What is a mistake, anyway? According to dictionary.com, a mistake is:
- an error in action, calculation, opinion, or judgment caused by poor reasoning, carelessness, insufficient knowledge, etc.
- a misunderstanding or misconception.
As children, we’re bound to make mistakes based on poor judgment and reasoning, carelessness, insufficient knowledge and wisdom. It’s inevitable. Kids’ brains aren’t matured enough to know and do better. We make errors, we learn, we move on.
But somewhere along the way, as we grow into adults, we somehow get conditioned to believe that mistakes are unacceptable. We expect perfection instantly and get really impatient and judgmental of ourselves (and sometimes others) when that doesn’t happen. I’m not exactly sure what it is that makes us believe that with age comes infinite wisdom. Just because we have life experience in some areas doesn’t mean we know (or will ever know) everything there is to know about everything and never make errors or have misunderstanding ever again. One only need look at the news about foreign affairs in any part of the world (or go to any family gathering) to realize that misunderstandings and misconceptions are all around us.
I’d like us to think of mistakes in terms of opportunities. If mistakes are made by errors in judgment, then there’s an opportunity to learn about the consequences of our judgment. If we make mistakes based on insufficient knowledge, then there’s an opportunity to get educated. If mistakes come about by misunderstandings or misconceptions, then there’s an opportunity to gain some clarity about another point of view (not that you will necessarily agree with it).
The word MISTAKE is ingrained in us as this horrible, unforgiveable thing. But there is not one person alive who hasn’t made a mistake or will never make another mistake again. It is part of the learning process (aka life). If we can look at mistakes the way they are defined, as errors (which are things to be corrected) and misunderstandings (which are things to be understood), doesn’t that seem like a more gentle, helpful perspective?
Today, I invite you to embrace your mistakes, for they are your teachers and provide opportunities for you to learn and grow.
Photo: My mistakes have a certain logic © by theihno
