How to Forgive Yourself for Making Mistakes

"Mistakes are proof you're trying!"

...hands up if you've seen that little gem a million times on Pinterest? - I'm not disagreeing with the sentiment, at all, in fact I'm trying daily to embrace it, but it's hard isn't it?

However much you try to remind yourself that mistakes are part of life, that everyone makes them, it doesn't make it any easier in the aftermath of actually making one - especially if it's a great big clanger!

But here's the thing: Mistakes do happen. You will make them. And that's okay.

What's important, is how you deal with them.

As someone who has spent more hours than she'd care to admit berating herself for blunders she's made over the years, here are my own ways of trying to stop the cycle of doom!

1. Own it. When you make a mistake, take responsibility for it. Never try to pass the buck or make excuses, that will only make things worse. So own your blunder, make amends if you can - fix it, apologise, whatever's needed, then start. to. move. on!

2. Forgive Yourself - and MEAN IT! ...there is absolutely NO point in wasting time beating yourself up over what you've done wrong. It's happened. You can't un-do it, you can only deal with it (see point 1).
Treat yourself with the same kindness you'd show someone else who'd messed up!

3. But Don't Forget! - by which I mean, turn your screw-up into a learning opportunity.
Pin point where you went wrong & why, and use that information to figure out what you should do differently in the future.

4. Look for the silver lining. Sometimes, the worst part of the aftermath of messing up is that it feels so final, but the truth is, it's probably not.
People mess up every day & the world keeps turning!
So try to see the silver lining, look for the fork in the road that might have opened up because things didn't go according to plan.

5. Draw a line & MOVE ON. However tempting it might be to re-run the situation in your head a million times and think of all the "what ifs" and "if onlys", it won't change a thing, and it definitely won't make you feel any better!

So be kind to yourself, so long as you've owned up, done your best to rectify the situation & made an effort to learn from it, there's really no more to do or say, so channel your inner Elsa and Let. It. Go!

I'm not saying it'll be easy, especially if you've spent your whole life dwelling on mistakes longer than necessary (raises hand!) - but it's never too late to un-learn that behavior and start taking your screw-ups in your stride!

How do you deal with messing up? If you've got any tips to add, please do leave them in the comments, I'd love to know!