Nobody is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes.
Life involves making mistakes. We make wrong decisions which yield to negative results. Such a cliche to say, but it is in making mistakes that we learn. We realized that the undesirable results of such decisions/actions are detrimental to us, thus, we tried hard to avoid committing the same again. In fact, making mistakes is, by far, the most effective learning experience to anyone.
In my 22 years of existence (yes, I just spoiled my age), I have made thousands of mistakes. Some of which were forgotten and many made a big impact in my life. While writing this entry, I tried to recall those mistakes and the lessons I gained from it.
1. I was completely lost when I graduated in high school. I didn't know what degree fits me. All along, I just wanted to watch drama series, learn Chinese or Korean, and travel abroad. I thought I'm good in Math and History and those were my choices in enrolling for a course but my hasty decision has put me to other field. I tried to fit in and forced myself to finish my degree, but, I was never happy. Though I have met friends and joined organizations, I have never taken any lessons to heart. I still wanted a different course but I chose not to shift for fear of not finishing anything. End result, I graduated with distinctions but I was never fulfilled. I failed to take risks, I failed to follow my heart's desire. Which reminded me every single time to stop doing the things that I am not interested to just for the sake of doing it. I learned that choosing a degree that interests you is the best decision you could have ever made in your life, which unfortunately, was too late for me to realize.
2. I decided to take a job which has the best offer among those I applied for. The job was easy. In fact, I never used whatever I learned from school. I didn't say that choosing this particular job was a mistake but doing what my officemates were doing was the real mistake. I did not accurately record the time I arrived in the office, because that was what everyone's doing. We were too afraid of our boss to record our tardiness by 3 to 5 minutes. I tried it a few times. We were caught and I thought it was the end of my career. One of my officemates were terminated but that was just one of her endless mistakes. I, on the other hand, was coached and warned by my boss. I was so relieved that time that I was only given a rating of 3 rather than being terminated. I cried in front of them and it was a moment when I realized that one mistake can make your whole life turn upside down. I learned to follow the rules strictly and to never just commit wrong things even if it's done by everyone. In the end, it is yourself that will be liable and not the others.
3. Even if it was not your intention to commit mistakes, in the eyes of other people, you're still making a grave offense. I left my previous job because I was hired in a company which provides more opportunity for me to grow. I promised myself that I won't be committing the same mistakes I made in my previous job. I don't want to go back to those frightening moments of going to office without assurance if I still be having a job. I'm an honor student and I should act one. So, I worked hard everyday. Though I made mistakes in the written memos I drafted, in the attachments I sent through mails, and in the notes I need to put in reports, it wasn't big enough for my life to be shaken. But there's this one honest mistake, a mistake that I didn't know is a mistake, that brought chills to me. Never did I know that this action would cause such a big fuss. But no matter how I defend myself from being innocent, in the eyes of the official, it is still an incompetent action that merits nothing but a penalty. A penalty that I've never imagined. A penalty that is more grave and life-changing than what I received during my stint at my previous job. I'm currently reflecting on it, and what I realized was there are people who are cruel and heartless. That the person I taught was the most evil isn't the worst person I would meet in my lifetime. And a simple action, even if you thought isn't a mistake, will cause a ripple in your career and make you feel like you don't deserve anything, even your hard-earned degree in college.
These were just a few mistakes that I'm always reminded of and still pains my being every time I remember. But we don't live for the mistakes we make but for the future we want for ourselves. Sometimes, when we make mistakes, we felt like it's the end of our life, of our career, or of our studies. But to be honest, it is just the start of something new. We fall, we feel hurt, but we get up and heal from what caused us to fall. I wanna share these three simple things I learned in the course of life on how to deal with mistakes.
1. Identify what caused you to take such action that led to committing mistakes. This will remind you of the root cause that you need to avoid in the future.
2. Acknowledge your mistake and identify the right course of actions to recover from the mistakes. Never cover up your wrongdoings for it will just make things worse. If you're wrong, then acknowledge it. Apologize and promise to be a better one. But aside from admitting to your mistakes, you also need to think of how to gather yourself and recover from it.
3. Breathe in, breathe out. Making mistakes always results to an undesirable situations. You're caught in a moment where you could only cry alone in a corner because you don't want anyone to see your weak self and to be humiliated more. Honestly, it's even harder if there is a high expectation from you. But then again, it isn't the end of the world. People will judge you and humiliate you in front of others, you will feel like you don't deserve to live, and you will feel broken. Take your time to reflect, breathe in and out, until your heart is healed and everyone has moved on. Time heals everything, even the mistakes you made in the past.
