Making Mistakes Is Human

Making mistakes isn't just human — it's the most human thing there is. I don't only have to deal with my own mistakes; I have to deal with the mistakes of others.

What's the problem? I don't know how to handle my own mistakes, and so I find it incredibly hard to handle the mistakes of those around me.

But no one ever told me that. So I end up being harsh with others because I'm harsh with myself. I call it holding people accountable — a prettier word for cruelty.

I also feel good about myself for supposedly not being a hypocrite, since I only demand from others what I've already demanded from myself.

This leads me into a cycle of guilt.

That cycle makes me base my life on successes and failures. So when I get things right, I believe I am right. When I get things wrong, I believe I am wrong.

I idealize an impossible perfection, and sometimes I think I've arrived there. I keep up the facade, and it produces something unpleasant in me: pride.

When I make a mistake, that facade cracks, and I fall back into my guilt cycle.

And so I go on living between mistakes and successes, believing that life, work, and relationships are built on my perfection rather than on my humanity.

I forget that whoever accepts me because of my perfection doesn't actually accept me at all — because that perfection doesn't exist. And right now, I'm talking about myself.

I realize what I lack is the ability to accept my own mistakes — and to stop thinking that my successes are credits built up to pay for the mistakes I've made.

In the end, I wouldn't need to suffer for acceptance. There is One who accepted me and did not hold my mistakes against me. And that is everything I need to live free from the guilt I carry.

*\* Most of the time, as in this piece, mistakes don't stop you from understanding the message. Go easier on yourself — life is short 😉*