Just stand up! Headline Animator

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Live, learn, and get on with it!

"Get the lesson so you can move on." No matter how terrible an experience has been, acknowledge that it has contained a life lesson. Each experience has made you who you are today and who you will be tomorrow. 
Move on!" 
~ Author Unknown ~

Life's lessons can slow us down or stop us in our tracks if we let them. I think that as humans we were created to make mistakes. We know we are imperfect beings and yet we can be hard on ourselves if we've made a mistake or not acted in accordance with our authentic self. I used to beat myself up when I did something wrong. I was really critical of myself (Type A personality - comes with the territory!). As I've gotten older, I've learned to lighten up on myself. I finally reached a point that I had to accept that as much as I wanted to be, I was not perfect. The good news was that neither was anyone around me! Once I accepted that making mistakes was part of the journey, it took some of the pressure off.

I still analyze myself though. If I've acted in a certain way that I wasn't happy about (or reacted for that matter), I try to examine the situation so I can improve on it in the future. Why did I react that way? What was the trigger? How can I change my reaction if it happens in the future?

I don't know about you but my lessons keep coming back to me until I get it right. Have you noticed that? So now I pay more attention!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love failure :-) Seriously, failure is where all our learning gets done - when we get things right its because we've done all the learning we need in that area!
Right now I'm developing a workshop for companies which teaches people to embrace failure - its a HUGE paradigm shift but such good fun!

Karyn said...

I understand what you're saying in theory, Susan. But honestly, my Type A personality gets in the way a lot. That feeling to "always be perfect" is hard to get past. I am trying to lighten up but, man, it is really difficult! I have made progress though! I would be interested in your workshop. Where do you live? LOL

Anonymous said...

I live in Dubai... but hey, I'll travel anywhere :-)

Letting go of being perfect is really hard - but the need to be perfect is just your survival mechanism trying to hold you back and stop you growing. I love watching the Type As doing this work - when they "get it" they are the messiest and most creative of the lot - or maybe they just need to be the best most messy person in the room LOL!!

Karyn said...

Dubai?! Ugh! I love your feedback and you are someone I'd love to have a cup of coffee with! I am going to think about what you wrote. Very helpful. I'm so glad we have connected and I love your blog!