If you ask any successful person what helped them achieve greatness, I bet they'll tell you about the countless short comings and slip ups they encountered along the way. We all want to be successful in different aspects of our lives but it's important to know that making mistakes is what really motivates change and personal growth and that's where the real success lies.
Mistakes are embarrassing so we can spend a lot of time trying to avoid them by tip toeing around sticky situations or trying to hide from them completely. Of course we want to avoid life altering screw ups where possible but some things can only be learned through experience.
It can feel as though everyone around us has got life figured out (thanks Instagram) but the older I get, the more I realise that everyone is only winging it. It's just that some of us are better at riding the wave of life and have learned the art of surrendering to mistakes rather than wallowing in self pity every time they choose the red pill.
You see the more we experience mishap, the more open we are to progress over perfection, the more teachable and the less fearful of failure we become. Making mistakes gives us freedom from feeling as though every choice we make has to be to be the right one and when we start to discover that it's okay to make the wrong choice, that's when we choose more boldly and that's when we really live life to the fullest!
I make mistakes all the time. I mean just five minutes ago I overcooked my eggs (apparently when it comes to cooking I never learn!) But seriously, I've made a lot of life altering decisions in the last twelve months and not all of them have been the right ones. I try not to be too hard on myself about that because every mistake I've made has taught me something and although some lessons have been much bigger and more painful than others, overcoming these obstacles has made me wiser and more in touch with who I am as a person.
Maybe we wouldn't be so worried about making mistakes if we allowed others to mess up every once in a while without passing judgement? By being vulnerable ourselves we become more compassionate and at the end of the day, we are all doing the best we can and nobody is perfect.
Looking back and thinking 'what if' or 'if only' is no way to live your life so take chances, be vulnerable and give yourself permission to fall down every now and then. We are only human after all.
Here's to a happy, healthy and imperfect you,
Alyssa x