by Tricia
Sometimes, I have conversations with others through email. I keep all emails private unless I am told otherwise. A reader, Diane, wrote something to me that rings so true to me that I asked her if I could share it with everyone and she gave me permission to do so.
“I will make mistakes until the day I die. Yet I can still learn to love myself as a mistake maker. I can also become a better problem solver, because I will continue to face problems until the day I die. I can’t control what happens to me, but no matter what does happen, I have choices as to how I respond. It’s not what happens to me that matters, it’s the choices I make in the face of what happens to me that determines the quality of my life.”
Thank you Diane for letting me share this with everyone. I think the above is one of those quotes that deserve a highly visible spot on my desk.
I can relate to this comment. A few things that resonated to me were:
1.) acknowledging that none of us is perfect and making mistakes is a fact of life — this is liberating as it takes the shame out of any past/future mistakes
and
2.) thinking about how we have a choice in how we respond. this is so powerful. this is always something i even say to my kids. i try not to every say ‘you are bad but rather ‘you just made a bad choice’ and then i encourage them to make better choices. this is something i need to apply to my own life more in so many ways!