We all make mistakes. As the old saying goes, “To err is human.”
The second part of that statement is, “To forgive is divine.”
But you don’t have to be a divine being in order to forgive yourself or other people for your mistakes.
Dealing with mistakes
In many cases, we don’t accept ourselves or our mistakes. It can cause great unhappiness. If we are a professional, we cannot tolerate ourselves making mistakes. This can lead to intense frustration and stress. It can also start to cause relationship problems at work and in the home as you begin to expect an impossibly high standard from other people.
It is important to understand that there is no such thing as perfection. Perfection is in the eye of the beholder, as the saying goes. A person who is never satisfied is never going to see anything as perfect, or good enough for them. This might even include themselves, if they are being honest.
On the other hand, there is no reason for being slack. Dialing it in and not handing in your best work is not the way to impress anyone at your job. A middle way would be to decide when something is good enough. For example, this will usually be the case when you are hurrying towards a deadline. It needs to get done regardless of how perfect it is.
However, the way you approach the deadline can make a huge difference in how good the work is. If you have been steadily progressing towards getting the project done ever since it was assigned, the deadline should not be a big deal and you will hand in quality work.
If on the other hand, you have waited until the last minute to try to get everything done, your work will probably be full of mistakes and will not impress. It will get done, but it may not be good enough.
Personal Mistakes
In terms of human relationships, we all make mistakes. We say or do the wrong thing and hurt other people’s feelings. On the other hand, it can sometimes be their mistake. They might mis-hear things, misinterpret them, or take them the wrong way from what you intended when you said or did something.
Again, we all make mistakes. The most important lesson in all of this is to understand that people have their own ideas and perceptions, but open and honest communication can help to resolve any mistakes that might have been made. Not talking to someone because you are angry with them and don’t wish to forgive them is not a way to solve problems maturely.
Learning to forgive yourself can be hard too. Sometimes we do something stupid and then kick ourselves about it afterwards. The point is that we all learn from mistakes. If we did everything perfectly the first time we would never have any process by which we could discover how to do things better.
This being this the case, if you do make a mistake, use it as a teaching moment and decide what take away messages you can get from what just happened. In this way you will continue to grow as a human being and learn how to forgive yourself and others.
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