Oops
We all mess up from time to time. Sometimes we make a decision that doesn’t serve us well. Other times may just be accidental. Either way, we do something we regret.
We can beat ourselves up about it, but that really doesn’t help us at all. In fact, it may make things worse. When we berate ourselves for what we did, we reinforce a negative self-image, making it more likely we’ll repeat the unwanted behavior.
We benefit more if we use the mistake to learn more about ourselves. A brief understanding of why we did what we did can be helpful. But we don’t want to get too lost in this process.
Then we need to figure out what we might do instead. What have we learned about what didn’t work that might show us more about what might work better?
Taking a positive step toward a different outcome gets us back on track toward something healthy and helpful. It doesn’t have to be a momentous change, just something small that will help commit us to doing things differently.
Today’s message reminds me that I can and will make mistakes sometimes. And that’s okay. What isn’t okay is dwelling on them. Dusting myself off and doing something healthier is a good way to handle an oops.