All I Want For Christmas

It can be hard this time of year when commercials for everything we could ever want are running non-stop. The mailbox is full of ads and sale after sale is announced on the radio. It can be pretty easy to get convinced we actually NEED all of the things we’re hearing about.

It is o.k. to want things, as long as you remember your worth isn’t determined by what you have or don’t have. When you see an ad, most of the time, the goal of the company doing the selling is to make you feel like your not good enough unless you have their product. You will be healthier, prettier, more popular, more fit, more fun, and all around happier if you just buy what they are selling.

The truth is, while you may feel happy for awhile after buying something that you think will make you feel better about yourself, true happiness comes from believing in yourself and liking yourself. 

Happiness, it turns out, starts on the inside!

Making Mistakes and Forgiving Yourself

I hate it when I make a mistake! The day is going along nice and calm and then the stomach churning feeling when you realize you’ve made a mistake, rolls in. The feeling reminds me of our recent fishing trip – it was beautiful when we started out, but when the dark clouds started coming they were moving faster than our boat could take us to shore.

How quickly our day can change when we start getting down on ourselves! Why do we do that? Mistakes are a part of life. Sometimes we do them accidentally, and sometimes we choose something and it turns out…maybe we should have chosen the other thing.  

The most important thing is what we do after we’ve realized we made a mistake. Sulk? Cry? Yell? Say “I’m so stupid!”? We get down on ourselves and then we take it out on other people, then we feel bad, and get down on ourselves again. It can be a never ending circle unless you find a way to forgive yourself.

One of the best things someone said to me when I’ve been down about making a mistake is this: “I probably make 100 mistakes every day, and you know what, the sun still comes up in the morning”.  Or as Dori from Finding Nemo would say, “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming…”

If it’s a big mistake, think about what you can do to make it right. Be honest, forgive others, make a plan if you need to, talk about it with someone you trust, and above all, forgive yourself. You are not stupid, or bad, or any of the other things you may be telling yourself.

Mistakes can help us make better decisions in the future, and they can help us understand and support our friends when they’re in the same situation.

“Show me a person who has never made a mistake and I’ll show you somebody who has never achieved much.”          – Joan Collins