Recycling our mistakes

We all make mistakes, some of us more than others, but in the end, there’s always a lot to gain from them as they leave a strong impression on us and, more so than our successes, are the true building blocks to our experience and wisdom. 

Only those of us who don’t do much or function in “survival mode” are spared most mistakes, but if we happen to be active, relentless, adventurous or love experimenting, we’re on the receiving end of all kinds of mishaps, many of them totally unknown, unimaginable and, this is where it becomes interesting, unforgettable! 

As a friend once told me: “Mistakes are like manure, messy, unpleasant, and they stink. But given time, reflection, and the right conditions, they become fertile ground for growth. The richer the fertilizer, the stronger the roots of future wisdom." As mistakes happen, they hurt us a lot and never fail to occupy, even temporarily, a huge space into our head, our thoughts and our daily lives. 

Sometime, they badly affect our mood, our self-esteem and make us want to punish ourselves and dissolve into think air! Without going to that extreme, I hold the belief that each mistake is highly recyclable, is worth its weight in teaching, and should, first and foremost, make a lasting imprint into our memory. 

The emotional residue of a mistake whether it’s shame, regret or frustration, is often more corrosive than the mistake itself. We must learn how to name those feelings, sit with them briefly, and then release them as part of the recycling process. We don’t just learn from what went wrong, we also learn from how we respond to it. 

If we can remember our own errors, we will have a good chance not to repeat them. In the process they can be the seed to new behaviors, better habits, checks and balances, new ways of approaching future similar situations without falling into the same trap. Mistakes should also be used to balance our other successes or offset some past good deeds we’ve accrued as credit. 

Most of all, their length of stay in our mind should be short, so they don’t poison our lives on a quasi-permanent basis. We should quickly resolve them by defining clears ways to counteract them in the future, lessen their impact on us, and to fortify ourselves against repeat performance. 

Perhaps, one way to recycle a mistake is to write it down. Not as a confession, but as a blueprint. What happened? What was I feeling? What would I do differently next time? This turns the mistake into a tool, not a torment. By absolutely no means, should we ever allow them to beat ourselves to death and hurt our self-confidence. 

This could be the worth mistake we could bring upon ourselves. In the end, mistakes are proof that we were trying, stretching, daring. They’re the fingerprints of a life well lived with curiosity and courage. So, in conclusion, long live an army of errors that are our foot soldiers in building the rich experience we all can use!