What is that one thing we crave for? Appreciation and encouragement.
What is that one thing we beat ourself up about?
Our mistakes.
We have been conditioned to be perfect in all that we do. Be it the most trivial tasks, we are expected to do them without making a single mistake.
But why?
I once came across this lovely quote which reads:
Mistakes are proof that you are trying.
I always felt the need to do everything to perfection. Dating back to my childhood days, I would try to do every single task assigned to me (by others or by myself) with absolutely no flaws. I would get severely dejected when something that I did, did not meet with my expectations. Constantly going back to what could be done better, it made me distressed and irritable.
However, everything has a limit to it. No matter how hard you try, you cannot do everything beyond excellence. You only invite yourself to anxiety and self-loathe. And that’s exactly what happened with me. I realised soon enough that I should give up trying to be a perfectionist. It took me a while to convince myself that it is okay to make mistakes and to fail at something. While I still struggle with this habit of mine, nothing makes me happier to see the progress I have made ever since.
There have been innumerable stories on how successful people have stumbled in achieving their goals. I remember reading this story about Thomas Edison. He failed in inventing the light bulb a THOUSAND times before it actually happened.
When asked how it felt to fail so many times, Edison replied, “ The light bulb was an invention with 1000 steps.” Each time he was unsuccessful, he learnt where he went wrong, got back on his feet, and continued till he was successful.
Committing mistakes, goofing up. They all make us stronger and wiser over time. It isn’t any use crying over spilt milk. Rather pat your back, appreciate yourself for trying your best. That’s the key. Trying. We cannot, and should not, torture ourself for all the blunders that we make. As long as we learn from them, and progress, mistakes should never discourage us.
Trying means you are striving to become a better version of yourself. Messing up means you are very much human and real. And mistakes do not mean you’re a failure. We have only read it in school, but it is time to apply it to our own lives. “Failure is the stepping stone to success.”
Fall down, brush off the dirt, and get back on your feet. That is how you move ahead.
Until next time, stay blessed. And make mistakes. 🙂
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The Soulful Nib 
Mistakes are proof that you are trying… excellent.
We should not get disheartened, when we do mistakes because we will learn a lot from our mistakes and accepting our mistakes make us matured and we learn a lot .
Henceforth whenever I do mistakes, I will think about this beautiful line ” mistakes are proof that you are trying”.
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Well said, indeed 🙂
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Very nice chinnu. Making one mistake, u climb one step up. Nobody can achieve success without doing single mistake. But one should take it in right spirit and learn from mistakes. It was a very nice writeup. All the best
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Thank you so much!!! This means a lot to me 🙂
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Well said. A different way to look at our mistakes 😀
The example of Edison inventing the light bulb after 1000 steps is perfect. Indeed we need to brush of the dirt and get back the feet 👍
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Thank you so much 🙂
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Worth reading. And more importantly learning from this post. Nice Chetana
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Thank you 😊
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Superb!! I feel this generation students should read this…..
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Thank you so much 🙂
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I am inspired. Thank you for writing beautiful lines with an apt quote.
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Thank you so much! Glad you liked it.
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