Yesterday’s mistakes tend to define me but what is a mistake? Mistakes have a lot of causes; they can be big or small. But the thing they have in common is that they all have to do with doing the wrong thing. It could either make you or break you depend on how you deal with it.
MY STORY
I made a friend from camp named Micah she was one of my closest friends. Growing up I was always full of energy, and Micah wasn’t always as energetic as me but she was always down to play and do silly games with me. However, she was always good at swimming. One day during swimming, I challenged her to do so many things, I asked her to race multiple times. Before then, I knew that Micah had asthma and that she should take it easy with physical activities, but because I kept losing I continued to pressure her. I shared unpleasant words that shouldn’t be coming from a friend. I just really wanted her to continue to race me over and over again until I finally won…
The next day I didn’t see Micah come to our dance class. I asked my mom to call Micah’s mother to ask if everything was fine. Micah’s mother explained that she was rushed to the hospital because of her heart issue that was triggered. I was horrified; I didn’t even know that she had a heart problem. After hearing about Micah’s situation, I felt terrible and responsible for what happened. I was a bully to my own friend and I didn’t want to admit it. All night, all I could think of was that it was my fault, I felt ashamed.
But I realized that I made a mistake in pressuring her and that I had to take responsibility. When I visited her in the hospital the next day and apologized for my actions. That’s when I told her I knew I shouldn’t have pressured her to keep swimming and that I shouldn’t have said mean things. I promised I would never behave that way again. Micah kindly accepted my apology. Ever since then, I have always been careful to consider others and speak kindly, because you never know what someone else is dealing with and I don’t want to hurt people. Everybody makes mistakes the question is, will you let it define you? One of the most important things I have learned about making a mistake is that you can really learn from doing something wrong. All you have to do is AOL it. Accept it, Own it, and Learn from it. Children from Moorelands Kids have the advantage of learning these skills at an early age.
ACCEPT IT
Acknowledge your actions. Know that nobody is perfect, sometimes we tend to forget to remind ourselves that we are just human we MAKE mistakes. We are responsible for our own actions; it is our choice to either look at it in a positive or in a negative way, either you add more wrinkles or preserve your “youthness”… it’s YOUR choice
OWN IT
Head up, own your mistake and try to set things right if you can. Realizing that you’ve done something wrong is the fastest way to find a solution and move on from a mistake. It should just be as easy as playing rock, papers, scissors: you shoot, you lose, you move on.
LEARN FROM IT
After making a mistake there is always that, “I should have” feeling or thought in the back of our head. But the sad reality is, the mistake has already been done and sometimes we can’t fix it. There is no going back in time, what we need to ask ourselves is “What could I have possibly done to prevent myself from making that mistake? What could I do differently if the situation comes up again?” This is what I learned from Moorelands, reflect on your actions, and choose your response.
Don’t let your mistakes define you or your tomorrow, A.O.L. it! Through Moorelands Kids mentorship, children are able to learn these skills at an early age. Skills that I wish I learned growing up.
by Hannah, BLAST program leader