You will not always get it right.
Sometimes you will have a losing streak miles wide, and feels like there is no end in sight.
Yes, there are people who will tell you to redefined what a losing streak means for you, wrapping it up in pretty bows and exclamations of, Oh GOODIE, a teachable moment!
What about when you are tired of making the most of your mistakes?
What if you just want one little second to tantrum about, pounding your fists against the ground because you are so fed up with yourself and everyone else?
Telling you that you are not, nor have ever been, a failure might take the wind out of your sails a little bit, wouldn’t it?
But this is that kind of post.
The kind where you, dear reader, are encouraged to cozy up and lay down your absolute worst, ugliest, and most terrible imperfections – and allow yourself to take a huge deep breath of relief.
You won’t always get it right.
In fact, quite often, you will get it wrong, or will not live up to your own expectations.
There are many moments where you might look at someone else and think, yeah well my life would be perfect too, if I also had access to ____________.
There are many moments when people are thinking the same about you.
None of us have our shit together, 100% of the time. None.
We all have those moments where we look back and wince at our inability to handle a situation with grace and poise.
We all have something that we are just CERTAIN that everyone notices when they look at us or meet us for the first time.
We all have many, many reasons to want to climb back into bed and pull the blankets over our heads.
And yet?
Here you are.
I am staggered by the power of your communal bravery, and your willingness to look deeply inside yourself. You are more strong and courageous than you think.
So maybe, for today, you can summon the ferocity required to stop condemning yourself for your mistakes.
You are not all that you’ve “done wrong.”
Your mistakes are your best bits – the parts that distinguish you from the pack – and how you choose to access and utilize your imperfections will be the mark of who you are.
It’s not about turning your imperfections into something else or making the most of an unfortunate situation, it is about allowing those moments to be exactly what they are: messy, vulnerable, strange, upsetting, lackluster, frustrating, horrifying, and ugly.
And still believing that you are a good, beautiful, inspiring, and magnificent person.
You can be all of these things simultaneously. You’re complex. I like that about you.
It’s about owning all of yourself. Showing up. Being who you are – the good, the bad, and the in between.
It’s about choosing love. It is about choosing not to be afraid of the parts that frighten you.
It’s about accepting yourself, exactly as you are.
THIS. oh my god, thank you, i NEEDED this post today!
This is so true. I think it’s a lesson that everyone takes different amounts of time to learn, but when you learn it, it changes everything. Imperfection is the way to go 🙂
This is an excellent post-but what about the mistakes that impact the rest of your life in a big, scary way?
In my own life, I prefer not to think about mistakes a f#*&ing everything up in a scary way, but instead as redirecting me towards something that is closer to my path. Yes, there are times when something is perceived as putting a major wrench in all of my carefully laid plans, but, in looking back at all of those moments – the redirection, though it felt like a punishment at the time, sent me in a new, ultimately more fulfilling space + time. Does that make sense? I know that “everything happens for a reason” doesn’t resonate with everyone, but I truly believe in it. Alice, do you have an example of what you’re talking about here? xo
Beautiful post, thank you for sharing!