I made an awful mistake

Can you remember a time you made a mistake or something didn’t go your way? How did you react?

One time when I was a young girl, my dad missed an opportunity at work and he yanked the telephone out of the wall in frustration! That’s the only time I was ever scared of my otherwise happy goofy father.

I also remember in my early 20s when I got in a fight with my boyfriend and threw my cellphone down the stairs. Apparently my family has a history of phone-related anger!

When something goes wrong, whether it’s our fault or not, we tend to have a strong negative reaction. We might take that anger out on others or work tirelessly to fix it, holding our breath until it’s done.

What would it be like if we actually relaxed when something goes wrong?

This week I made a horrible careless mistake.

While adjusting the settings on the website where my book is available for purchase, I misunderstood what I was doing and made my book no longer available!!

YIKES!!

I did this in a way that required customer support to fix it for me.

Thinking back to how I handled mistakes just a few years ago, I would’ve been screaming curse words, saying really mean things about myself, and throwing my laptop across the room.

Perhaps the saving grace is that a telephone wasn’t involved!

However, I am not the woman who throws phones, laptops, or anything else in anger anymore. Nor am I the woman who used to call herself a stupid idiot.

I’m a woman, who like all humans, sometimes makes mistakes.

So this is what I did when I realized the gravity of my mishap.

I panicked for a moment! Because hey, reflexes! Then I calmly and politely contacted customer support asking for help.

Realizing that this was now out of my control, I did something that neither my dad nor my younger self would have done: I relaxed. I let myself off the hook.

This isn’t the end of the world, and it can be fixed. Instead of stressing out about it, I might as well go on with my day and stay busy. Then before I know it, it will be fixed.

And that’s exactly what happened. A few hours later, the damage was undone.

That could’ve been a horrible day if I focused on my carelessness. Instead, I let the love and compassion I worked so hard to instill in myself take over, as it does most of the time now.

YOUR TURN: Could you stand to be a little kinder to yourself? Could you cut yourself some slack?

I encourage you to pay attention the next time you make a mistake or something doesn’t go as you wanted. Notice your reaction, and ask yourself, “Is this helpful? Can I be a little more compassionate? Can I relax into this?“

Are you willing to give it a try?

Noticing how we talk to ourselves and being kinder to ourselves are two big themes in my book, which by the way, is available for purchase again! 🙂

If you found this message helpful, I encourage you to check out the book – either for yourself or as a gift for someone else.

Learning to be more compassionate and kind with yourself is a gift you can treasure forever.

To being human,
Jessica