It's All What You Get From It

 "You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and falling over."- Richard Branson

How many people are finding themselves like I have been, thinking of the past? Wonder how things could be different if we had not made a mistake in the past. " I wish I would have dated that guy with money" "I could not have a worry if I had!" 

So you are 40 and still have not found your footing. This does not mean you have to keep beating yourself up. Let's face it, that really does nothing but keep us in a negative space with a negative attitude. Right?

"How can we encourage ourselves to not live on regrets but, know how to learn from mistakes. Maybe it is all in the way we view it. That could be the way we determine how quickly we can dust off, and continue on.

The mistake could be viewed as the doorway to learning more about ourselves. You can learn how much knowledge you have of yourself, and how far you are actually willing to go. Maybe just accepting the mistake and moving on is better than going over and over it until we are completely surrounded by negativity. This is coming from a chronic mistake-maker. Someone who has made so many mistakes over the years, it's a wonder I can tell the difference. The telling sign of whether it mattered or not would be if you learned from it. 

If we try to understand and learn from our mistakes and find something positive to take away from it then it is a good experience no matter how we view it. I use to tell people who would say to me "I wasted so many years on that relationship." That they in fact did not because they learned a lot of things. Whether it was the red flags of a toxic person, how to spot a liar, or what his face looks like when he is cheating. You still learn as a person what your limits are, your boundaries, or what you would like your boundaries to be. Many, many things can be learned from that one failed relationship that will maybe not promise the next will be successful, but hopefully not worse.

No one is immune from mistakes, or bad relationships for that matter, the difference is between the wise and the ordinary where the former will accept and learn something valuable to take from it, and the latter will be obsessed with regret. Your mistakes are better viewed as stepping stones rather than barriers to happiness. 

Nothing is forever. Even the strongest storm eventually passes. You have to get up and face life and start a new relationship to try again. Just as daylight always breaks the night sky you have to keep going and have some experiences, and see what is good for you, and what is not good for you. What works, and what doesn't.

As I wrap this up, I just want to encourage everyone to press on and always have their eye's fixed on the goal at hand. " It is good to celebrate success, but more important to heed the lessons of failure."-Bill Gates