This I Believe

This I Believe

Mistakes are proof that you’re trying.

 

            Life is not perfect. Everyone makes mistakes, both big and small. I believe that mistakes can be a good thing.

            Mistakes can help us learn and grow. I’m taking a photography class right now and I have already learned so much from my mistakes. Either I’ve forgotten to do something in the process of developing a print that resulted in a ruined photo, or I’ve just done something a completely wrong way. The point is, I have learned from these mistakes and now I know how to fix them.

            I believe mistakes can help us because we typically remember our mistakes. Whether it’s spilling milk all over the floor at your grandparents’ house (guilty) or missing a question on a test, these things stick with us. I think we all are the first ones to point out our own faults. We immediately notice these things, but we are able to help ourselves in the future by correcting them. Otherwise, we would just go through life without much to remember. Plus, we wouldn’t have all the experiences that we need in order to grow and mature.

            Life is a learning experience filled with mistakes. For one thing, if people had not made mistakes, the human race wouldn’t be as advanced as it is now. Some inventions came about as pure accidents. Had those actions never occurred, who knows what would have happened?

It’s not just mistakes that we use to advance though. It takes hard work and problem solving to fix things and tweak them. One such example is the invention of the light bulb. After working hard for a long time to perfect his invention, Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” He never gave up. He just kept on working to make the changes and fixes that he needed and ended up with something remarkable. That in itself is proof of where hard work and determination can take you if you just keep trying. As Thomas H. Palmer once said, “Tis a lesson you should heed, try, try again. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.” Although the small things bring us down sometimes, we should never let them take over our lives.

I need to start listening to this myself. I am a perfectionist. If something small is bothering me, it will continue to bother me until I fix it. The thing that I’ve noticed lately is that I can’t fix everything. I should not dwell on the mistakes I have made, but rather find out how I can learn from them to grow and develop as a person. Determination and perseverance are key to working out all problems.

In order to succeed in life, we will make many mistakes. It’s just part of the process. We will have to work through these failures to get where we want to be, but we will learn so much along the way. Life may not be easy, but if we try hard, work at our mistakes, and keep moving forward, we will be able to succeed.