You’re wonderful and pretty close to perfection. But, of course, we’re all human and from time to time, even our close-to-perfect selves make mistakes.
While it’s easy to tell other people, “mistakes happen — don’t worry about it!” we’re often really hard on ourselves.
How you handle mistakes can have a huge impact on your happiness. And if you keep dwelling on your slip-ups, you’ll start feeling down on yourself and the beautiful world around you.
So how can you change the way you see your mistakes? Follow these three simple steps:
1. See your mistakes as a chance to work on speaking positively to yourself.
If you forgot your new neighbor’s name, your mind might go right to, “Ugh, how could I do something so embarrassing?!” Try your best to catch yourself before you head in that direction, and instead see it as a challenge to be kind to yours truly.
Say to yourself, “Well, I have a lot of names to remember these days, I’m bound to mess up at some point!” Practice enough and your mind will eventually, by default, choose the kinder response.
2. Allow your mistakes to give you an opportunity to reflect and change.
Sometimes mistakes happen for a reason. Think of it as the universe trying to tell you something — so if you locked yourself out of your home, maybe you’ve been in such a rush lately that the mistake was a sign from the universe nudging you to “slow down!”
Try to pick up on these signals and respond accordingly, like scheduling a self-love time out to relax if you think your mistake is a result of being crazy-busy or overwhelmed.
3. Think of your mistakes as a way to connect with humankind.
OK, that sounds a little deep, but mistakes are what make us who we are. Like Joyce Brothers said, “You need to give yourself permission to be human.”
No one has an Instagram-perfect life and mistakes happen to all of us. Go easy on yourself and know that you’re wonderful – flaws and all!
XO
Quote du jour
“Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.” — Sophia Loren
READ MORE FEEL-GOOD NOTES:
How to Move Forward When You’re Feeling Stuck
Trust That You Know Best: 4 Ways to Tune into Your Intuition
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