Week Three Blog One- Response to Romel

Romel said,

"Mistakes can be like ice. If we resist them, we may keep on slipping into a posture of defeat." (p. 103). This statement hit me smack in the face during my reading this week. Not too long before writing this post I blogged about not liking to go back and readdress mistakes that could have been prevented if I had known the direction of the task more clearly. I think this was be being a bit whiny. I know that mistakes are inevitable in my life. I've made my fair share of mistakes and I'm sure I have many, many more waiting for my future. I guess the "ah ha" moment for me in this statement was the part referring to resisting those mistakes and basically setting myself up for permanent failure. I have come very far in this process of life and have hit several patches of "ice". Some of those patches I did not allow growth for learning to occur and as a result I faced some defeat along the way. The previously mentioned statement goes on to say " If we include mistakes in our definition of performance, we are likely to glide through them and appreciate the beauty of the longer run." (p. 103) I am no more immune to mistakes than any other human being on this planet. I think the thing I am taking away from this is that mistakes are going to happen. How I deal with those mistakes determines the success of my overall performance.


I replied, "You are definitely not alone in the resistance of mistakes. Nobody likes to face failure and mistakes always felt like an intensified and repeated failure. I took this attitude in my work place and with my daughter, who is now 11. It has been within the last few months that I realized how detrimental that fear of failure can really be. I had created a child who was afraid of everything, and do extremely poorly because she could never do enough or do it right enough to make me happy. In August I had to have an emergency hysterectomy and went from wanting more kids one moment and never being able to have another one the next. That opened my eyes to what I was doing to myself, my daughter, my students, my coworkers. I still find myself freaking out because I want everything to be perfect it and it far from it. Especially now that I am nearing the end of school and feel like I am drowning. Slow breaths and thoughts of serenity remind me that in this one life I have, I can best grow and flourish when I truly embrace who I am, mistakes and all."