Of all the important things you must do today, there is none greater than showing kindness to your heart. For even the brightest make mistakes and the wisest do not have a thing to say. Be gentle with yourself, even on your darkest day.

– Courtney Peppernell, “Pillow Thoughts”

“It’s okay to make mistakes, try to fix them, and learn from them too!”  🎶 🎶

As a parent, I do my best to recognize my kids’ mistakes for what they are. Mistakes.

Most times, my kids aren’t actively trying to mess up. They aren’t trying to hurt me or to make my life harder. They are doing the best that they can. I don’t go into a long lecture about how they did something wrong, how they should do something different the next time, and then make them feel bad for what they did. No, on my best days, I say, “Uh oh,” and ask them how they will fix their mistake. They usually come up with an excellent idea and we implement it and move on.

This is what we need to do in our lives when we fail. We need to come up with a solution to move forward and follow through. It doesn’t make up our identity. I failed. I am not a failure. Don’t continually beat yourself up for your failed attempt. It doesn’t do anything for you. Instead, show your heart some kindness. Forgive yourself. Cut yourself some slack.

Now, how am I going to do something different next time? The problem is when we cannot recognize we have failed or we don’t take ownership of our failure. If we cannot take accountability for our mistake, then we won’t even ask the question about next time, because in our mind, we didn’t do anything wrong. That’s a dangerous place to be.

Check yourself, own it, strategize for next time, and move forward!

– Jason

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