YOU ARE NOT YOUR MISTAKE

Do you remember the first time  when you messed up and made a mistake? Do you regret that you made that mistake? You are not alone. I screwed up more than once, I made mistakes that I wish I could go back in time and delete, and I am ready for doing some more. Six years ago, one of my teachers told me that people learn by mistakes. Back then, I thought it was just a simple sentence until I grew into a person who was able to analyze things by herself. Sometimes people are scolded for making some sorts of mistakes but today, I just want to talk about the sunny side of mistakes and how they can result into something beautiful. I want to shed some light on mistakes as something that has power of taking someone from one level of maturity to another.  I want to even show you how you can let go the of the guilt caused by past mistakes (though you can’t reverse the damage), to embrace your present mistakes, to learn from them and to be prepared for future mistakes.

 In 1928, sir Alexander Fleming had mistakenly invented penicillin. Fleming who was often described as a careless lab technician did this when he was experimenting with influenza virus in the Laboratory of the Inoculation Department at St. Mary ‘s Hospital in London. Penicillin is the known antibiotic that revolutionized the field of Medicine since its discovery. I used this example just to show you that not all mistakes are bad as they sound and to tell you that once we learn how to handle them positively, mistakes can be beautiful and useful. We all have learned everything we know now and the first time we learned what we know was not the time we became experts in them. We made a lot of mistakes through the process and at the end, we mastered what we know now.  The first time I cooked Spanish tortilla, I burnt one side and the other side was uncooked and yet I took pictures and send them to my friends who in turn said that the dish looked delicious. Dear reader, the power possessed by mistakes that I mentioned above lies in accepting your mistakes, taking responsibility of your mistakes, embracing your mistakes, and not letting them define you. You are not your mistakes though they make a great part of your growth journey. Accept them. You are not perfect, right? We all aren’t anyways! Making mistakes is not the end of the world and there is always a chance of correcting your mistakes. Take responsibility of your mistakes. Don’t run away from them, do not let guilt consumes you and please, apologize if you have to. That is how your mistake will be your stepping stone to the new level of maturity. Embrace your mistakes, do not let them tear you down, do not let them make you think that you are not a good person or that you can’t change. YOU ARE NOT YOUR MISTAKE. Don’t let them define you.

The fear of making a mistake is itself a mistake dear reader! I can’t guarantee you that you won’t make any mistake in the future but always remember this. If you have made a mistake (even though you feel as if they can’t be reversed/forgiven), life had to happen that way and so it has to go on! We learn by making mistakes, we grow from making mistakes.