“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” ― Albert Einstein
Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.”
― Rita Mae Brown
Yeah yeah, hearing those feel good quotes doesn’t make me feel any better when I’m knee deep in the consequences of my own bad decisions.
We all know what the hangover of making bad choices feels like.
The middle of the night replay of how things could have been different IF ONLY we would not have made that stupid purchase we couldn’t afford, taken the too good to be true job, shared secrets with a person who wasn’t worthy of our trust… if only we hadn’t flirted with temptation.
The list goes on and on.
Making mistakes is part of life.
Do I believe it’s possible to minimize making certain mistakes? Sure! If you’re struggling with a certain decision, you can ask a trusted friend, a counselor or you can pray about it.
But if we get really honest with ourselves, I think most of us can admit that before we made that wrong decision, there was check in our spirit, a gut instinct and red flags telling us to not go there.
The truth is…We probably knew the right thing to do, but doing the opposite seemed way more fun at the moment.
It doesn’t matter how educated, how controlled, how well we were raised or how good we think we are …
ALL of us do things we regret at times. It’s part of being human. However, what we have to be careful of, is not owning up to the mistakes we make and not taking responsibility for our own actions.
Sometimes it’s easier to try to explain it away or place the blame on someone else because surely we would not have made such a dumb move on our own.
But the truth is…WE DID.
Own your mistakes
Not only do you have to own your mistake, but you have to make it right if at all possible.
If your family is suffering financially because of a careless purchase, make it right by either selling what you bought or work extra to pay for it. If you embarrassed your child by losing your temper in front of their friends, then apologize and ask how you can make it up to them. If you hurt your spouse by flirting with another or even worse, betraying your marriage vows, sit down and have a heart to heart and figure out what caused your actions and what can be done to repair the damage.
Unfortunately, not all mistakes will be able to be easily fixed and some won’t be able to be fixed at all.
If this is the case, the only thing you can do is to apologize and move on, but learn the valuable lesson, that all actions have consequences and to be more mindful of careless choices in the future.
What are you lacking?
Making mistakes is part of being human, but the types of mistakes we make can sometimes teach us a lot about ourselves and what we’re lacking in our lives.
Did you buy the fancy boat because you’re insecure and feel the need to keep up with the Jones? Did you have drinks with the friend you met at the gym because your spouse isn’t emotionally attentive? Did you adopt a baby goat because your nest is now empty and you don’t know how to relax and not take care of something?
Think about it. We all have reasons for doing what we do.
What we have to remember though, is that our mistakes DO NOT have to define who we are as a person. Good people do stupid things.
Making mistakes proves that we are showing up for life, even though we sometimes blow it. It shows that we’re thinking outside the box, being creative and not sitting stagnant. GREAT!
Just be mindful, while some mistakes may only lead to an embarrassing situation and eventually a funny story at our expense. Others are devastating and life altering.
A learning experience
If we’re smart, we’ll use our mistakes to help us learn more about ourselves so we can make better choices in the future. If we are really smart, (and open minded) our mistakes may lead to a conversation that leads us to a new way of thinking and opens up a whole new world.