I made a huge mistake at work today.
I’m not feeling too confident about myself right now. It’s a sick feeling and I don’t like it.
Fortunately, I have made huge mistakes before so I have some previous experience. I know I can recover. I just don’t like where I am now. I would like to fast forward past this part.
The main thing about making mistakes is that you can learn from it. I will learn not to make today’s mistake ever again. Mistakes can be the best teachers because some lessons can’t be taught in a classroom. Some are best learned by experience and hitting those potholes in life. In many of the huge mistakes I have made during my lifetime, I have quickly put plans in place to ensure that I don’t make them again. I become proactive. Yes, I spend time lamenting about the mistake I made but the best way to erase the rotten ache I feel in my stomach right now is in knowing that I have a plan to do better.
The other thing about making mistakes is seeing how others respond to your mistake. Although my coworkers weren’t happy about the mistake I made, they were never mad or angry at me. That was a huge relief but I still feel awful that my mistake also affected them. My wife asked me a sobering question about it, she asked if I would have been upset. I responded that I would have probably been furious. Hmmm…I need to think about that and examine myself so that I remember that I should also be able to show mercy on others’ mistakes. Yet another lesson from making a mistake.
My co-worker said that mistakes happen. You know what? He’s right. None of us are perfect. We make the wrong decision or press the wrong button on the computer. It happens. We live and learn. There is as bigger issue if we act as if we never make mistakes. Today wasn’t a good day to be me but I will have better days.
Does all this make me feel any better? No. Not at the moment but I will get there. I know this because I have remembered past similar experiences and it is this same attitude of recovery which will work again. I will recovery and will be better for it. The sickening feeling I have in the pit of my stomach right now will eventually dissolve and I will move on. It takes time.
Of course the most important thing I do to recover from making a mistake is prayer. Prayer calms me and puts things in perspective. It mostly puts me in perspective. It helps my spirit to regroup and repair when it has been weakened by my human imperfections. It is always my prayer during these times that God would give me wisdom from the mistakes I have made and try to be better.
Today’s mistake won’t be the last one I have made but it helps to know I can get through it.
