Learn from your mistakes

The path in our in life  is sometimes slippery,  hence, we commit mistakes. Mistakes are signs of imperfections.  But what is important is that we bounce back from each fall. Writer Julie Fuimano commented that there are no mistakes in life, only lessons.  She says, “Whatever  happens, there is a gem for you to learn from it. If you can learn to accept mistakes, shortcomings, and unwanted events as opportunities for learning and personal growth, then you feel less stressed and fearful.”

A supermodel confided that she committed the greatest mistake in her life when she indulged in drugs which caused her financial crisis and affected her career.  She kept herself from the limelight by confining herself to her room. It was a good thing  that a friend visited her and she was advised to go into rehab. After her rehabilitation, she toured around America and shared her experience. Now fully transformed,  she is  back to her modeling career.

According to Fuimano mistakes are gifts. She says, “They offer you the opportunity to explore an area where perhaps you are deficit, need additional knowledge or training, or need to re-evaluate your approaches. Whatever is the reason, if you take time to explore what happened, you can learn what you need to correct the situation, and put system in place so that the same mistake will not be committed.”

Fuimano and writer Elizabeth Scott  believe  that we have to move on after each mistake and to do this,  they suggest the following approaches:

Accept that you are human. That each of us do things that we regret later on. However, whatever mistake we committed we have to embrace them and gain whatever lesson we can learn from it.

Accept full responsibility of yourself and your life. Whatever happens, whenever you make a mistake, take responsibility.  There is always a lesson that one can learn from every mistake.

Stop thinking of your mistake as failure. They can be more accurately described as opportunities for learning. People generally learn more from mistakes then they learn from their successes. With each mistake, you can learn valuable information that can be of used for future success.

Be forgiving. Maintain perspective and don’t take  mistakes too seriously. Blaming others for our mistakes can be a defense mechanism for those who are harsh with ourselves when we mess up. Be forgiving and change your perspective and learn the lesson from the mistake that you committed.

See what you can change. Rather than thinking of who is more responsible on the situation ; instead look at the situation as a whole in terms of what you can change. If you view taking responsibility through the lens of personal control, what can you change next time? What do you have control next time? Make it an empowering experience to learn from your mistake.

Look beyond. Look at the other sides of the same situation. How might things have gone differently if you had made a different choice? 

Pat yourself  on the back. Congratulate yourself for whatever growth you’ve gained from dealing with each difficult situation you encounter and in each mistake that you make. After all, no one is free from committing mistakes. What is important is that we should not repeat the same mistake.

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Email: oysonkathy@yahoo.com.