On making mistakes and forgiving ourselves

Everyone makes mistakes; that's just a fact of life. If we didn't make mistakes, we wouldn't learn as much as we do. The thing is, it's hard for people to openly admit the mistakes they make- I think it has to do with our pride and fear of failure or losing.

I have found that the only way to truly fail or lose is to quit trying. Mistakes are just part of trying and as we make them, we learn something, so hopefully we will not make the same mistake twice. Admitting mistakes is very different than admitting failure. Admitting your mistakes is simply acknowledging that you have done something that wasn't what you now consider the best thing to do.

The tricky part is that we have to realize that it's okay. Sometimes, we need to not be so harsh on ourselves, accept our mistakes, and move on. With the more egregious errors we make, it is imperative that we forgive ourselves. At some point, we have to remember that there is nothing we can do to change what happened, and do the best we can in the future. We cannot live in the past and dwell on our mistakes- we can only learn from them.

I have made many mistakes in my past, even recently. There are a lot of things that I would love to go back and change, but unfortunately that's not an option. Earlier today, a good friend told me that life is messy and we just have to accept that. I think he's right- when things go awry, we just have to dust ourselves off and keep on plugging away. I'm not saying that we should use this as an excuse for inappropriate behavior, but we need to find balance between forgiveness and striving for excellence.

I guess in the end, we just have to remember that we're human, try to do the best we can, and cut ourselves some slack.