The hardest mistakes to overcome are the ones where I cause other people to suffer for them. It's much easier to forgive myself for an oversight when I am the only one inconvenienced. Mistakes are difficult get past when I know that I have let someone else down who put their faith in me.
These disappointments hurt to realize, but they also serve to remind me that we are all human. Even the most diligent among us will have some missteps from time to time. These moments are grounding, they remind me to give compassion to others in the same way I appreciate receiving understanding and compassion for my own shortcomings.
As someone who always trys to be hypervigilant, it can be extra hard for me to forgive myself. In some mistakes you can clearly see ways to take more care, and avoid them. But some mistakes sneak right through the cracks. It's the ones that once you see them, you wonder how on earth you didn't see them before that are the most challenging. The little things, like one missed detail, a swapped number, or a missing piece that managed to go unnoticed. I have an inner fear of being regarded as careless, slap-dash or negligent, when in reality, I care oh so very much.
I feel it is so important to own up to my mistakes, and take every immediate course of action to rectify them. For me, the mistakes we make hold much less weight than the way in which we respond to them. I appreciate those who come forward to communicate if I have made an error, and I deeply appreciate being given the opportunity to make it right. Everyday I am working to be better and better.
Tori Solis, Lake Mineral Wells 2021
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