We’ve all had moments where we feel that we let ourselves — and others — down. We forgot to send that important email, we made a social faux pas, we mishandled a difficult situation. You drown your sorrows and have well-meaning friends or colleagues tell you, “It’s okay. Everyone makes mistakes.” Or, worse, “It’s not that all bad.”
Of course it is. It’s awful. You’re a horrible human being who never deserves happiness or success, ever.
Not really, even though it feels that way. You feel that failure is uncomfortable and life-ruining.
And it is.
It’s important to not listen to positivity culture that demands you put a smile on everything. It’s important to acknowledge that failure ruined your life, so that you can recover from it. How can you heal when you refuse to acknowledge your injury?
Yes, everyone makes mistakes, but if you feel like a failure, you probably failed.
I’ve failed a lot in life. And I used to chalk it up to simple mistakes. I missed a deadline. I forgot to CC someone on an email. I didn’t fill out a form correctly. And so I failed and got dismissed from the program/let go from a job/turned down for a raise. Sound silly? It is.
Everyday mistakes and failure on the large scale are very different. And it’s crucial…
