My last blog post had a glaring mistake that I didn’t catch until after it was first published. For anyone who receives a new update by email you may have seen the mistake in the title. Fortunately, the benefits of writing an online blog is that I was able to go back and change the spelling.
Even though I corrected the mistake and even though it wasn’t that bad of one, the guilt of not catching it before I first published it has plagued my mind since then.
Now I know what your are probably thinking. “Janice, it’s not a big deal. Everyone makes mistakes so forget it and move on.” At least that’s what I would have told you if you had made the same mistake. Rational and logical thinking tells us no one is perfect so mistakes happen.
But in our illogical and irrational part of our minds we tend to dwell on what others may think of us because we allowed our imperfection to show. We think we are dumb, careless, idiots, lazy, stupid, and a host of other negative adjectives to describe ourselves.
In other words, we beat ourselves up because of our fear that others are seeing our weaknesses. Now that is totally illogical and irrational thinking!
Would you ever tell your best friend those words because they made a mistake or showed a weaknesses? I know I wouldn’t. So why do we believe that is how others are thinking about us. Sounds like a double standard to me.
So no matter whether you’re unorganized, have a home full of clutter, or just make a simple spelling mistake don’t beat yourself up. Treat yourself like your own best friend. You would forgive her and encourage her to move forward by taking the necessary actions to either correct or apologize for the mistake or to improve her weaknesses (unorganized, clutter, etc.)
This post is my action to apologize for my spelling mistake. It allows me to stop beating myself up and move on. No more letting a little mistake drive me crazy.
So like I said in the last post the only way to make a change is to:
Step 1: Admit your mistake or problem. (spelling mistake)
Step 2: Figure out a solution. ( Apologize and explain why)
Step 3: Action. (Write blog post and publish)
I guess in some ways the apology is more for me than for you. It allows me to forgive myself for my mistake just like I would if it had been my best friend making the mistake.
It’s amazing what a little action can do.
Janice