Ever had one of those tragically long nights where you forget how to fall asleep? So many thoughts running all kinds of ways through your head and you feel so overwhelmed that you also forget how to breathe? Yeah me too. Every time I experience once of these nights, which I do quite frequently, I tend to focus on all of the negative things that have happened all day, the awful and embarrassing events of the past, and ALL of the ways I can incredibly mess up the future, and I do mean every single scenario. But in reality that’s wrong and not at all helpful. When you sit and marinate in all of the things that haunt you, you just add to the turmoil instead of relieving yourself of the burdens you don’t deserve to carry. Instead of thinking of all the bad think of the good, of the times you’ve almost pissed yourself with laughter, the times you’ve made your mother proud, the times you’ve caused a change in someone’s life, the time you gave that great advice to the friend who is almost as desperately lost as you are, the time you saved that animal from facing certain doom, the time you had one too many glasses of wine in public, and this is only the short list. Since you’re up late anyways I also encourage you to go on the internet and look into things that interest you, groups in the community you can get involved in, order some books to read, look up life hacks on YouTube, or even comedic sketches and I can assure you that in fifteen minutes time you’ll either be knocked out or would’ve forgotten what you were upset about in the first place. I’ve learned through a lot of trial and error that deflection and distraction are the top two D’s you should want to master in life. We need to stop shoving negativity in all directions and lives and try to focus on the positivity that resides in obscure locations. Unlearning the mentality that continues to ruin our quality of life is difficult because it’s something that we have grown up with and becomes second nature but would you rather go through a bit of a difficult time teaching yourself how to see the world in a new light or continue suffering of no-happiness in sight syndrome?
“Should’ve listened when I told you…” I can not realistically tell you how many times this phrase has been thrown at me in my mere twenty years of existence. It’s actually slightly pathetic to be honest. As stated above I’ve been lollygagging around this Earth for twenty straight years making just about every mistake a clichéd teen can possibly make. From dating the wrong guys, becoming involved in “friends with benefits” relationships I really had no interest in, to, yes, you guessed it drugs. Anyone who tells you they haven’t experimented with different aspects of their lives is a damn dirty liar and yes I realize that that’s a bold statement to make but, again with the clichés, that’s what growing up is all about. Messing up left and right and bravely deciding to learn from your own mistakes is, in my opinion, one of the most inspiring things that can be done and this is why: it hurts. It hurts to know that you could’ve avoided a situation, it hurts to fail, it hurts to fall on your ass, and it sure as hell hurts to lose something you actually wanted. This hurt that we consistently experience isn’t completely useless though. We learn and grow from it because we want to avoid that hurt again. It’s all about gradual conditioning that we do to ourselves until we find satisfaction. We test things out that we know are awful just to make sure they really are awful and move on to other things and test those out. It’s a cycle; its life. If you don’t mess up then you don’t evolve and embrace your full potential as a human being. Mistakes, aside from the negative connotation of the word, are good. They help shape our lives, society, and world as a whole. See laws for example, why do you think we have them? To avoid chaos and mass destruction of course but also because people have made major and minor mistakes that have caused these laws to be written up, proposed, and passed. Just think about it, would you be the person you are today had you not made the mistakes you did throughout your life? I am a firm believer that everything in this life is directly related to the choices you make as an individual, no matter how insignificant they may seem I can guarantee you that it has had an effect on your mind, surroundings, decisions, and/or relationships. So in hindsight yeah you probably should’ve listened to who or what ever told you to steer away from said mistake but would you trade what you have now for a chance to go back?
I now challenge you to list top your 5 mistakes that have resulted in positive outcomes… Once you do this you’ll be able to reflect on yourself and your experiences and, hopefully, appreciate your journey here on Earth a bit more.
