Making Mistakes and Getting Past Them

Every time I paint or draw a piece, I make a mistake.

Without fail.

Sometimes, I take my time to draw a straight line, and I suddenly twitch and boom, mistake. Other times, I try to paint a circle, and in the middle of it, one of my dogs barks loudly and startles me, resulting in an oval or deformed square-circle.

I have so many examples of times when I’ve made mistakes in a piece. I can point out a bunch in the elephant piece above.

Let’s face it – we all make mistakes. It’s a part of life and a necessary process that helps us learn more about ourselves. I mean, ask yourself, what kind of person would you be if you never made a single mistake in your life? I’ll go ahead and answer that – a close-minded person who thinks that they’re prefect.

Well I have news for you. No one is perfect.

And just by admitting that, you open yourself up to endless amount of possibilities. Because we all make mistakes, some that we’re not proud of. However, those mistakes help us learn what we like and what we don’t like, and brings us that much closer to a better, more well-rounded individual.

Something to realize when you make mistakes – extremes are not good. A lot of times, when we make a mistake, we tend to go to the complete opposite end of the spectrum in order to not repeat the same failed result. That’s not a good thing to do. There should always be a balance. For example, say I’m in the middle of painting a piece that requires me to paint a straight line, and I accidentally mess up for whatever reason. Making the decision to never paint again, due to that mistake, would be considered an extreme decision. Why is that? Because one mistake should not constitute me giving up, especially something that I love so much. If I took that extreme route and never picked up a paint brush, then I would be letting the mistake win. I would be discrediting myself in redemption because, since I gave up so easily, I didn’t give myself a fighting chance.

Now I understand that every situation is different, and most are not as black and white as my example. In fact, your situation might be a lot more complicated. All I ask is that you don’t throw in the towel. Don’t take the extreme route. Understand that mistakes happen, and admitting that you made one is the first step. The next step is to desire to learn from the mistake and change it. You cannot undo a mistake, but you can turn it into a learning experience. Taking a negative and turning it into a positive is the right step to growing as an individual and scratching the surface of what you’re capable of. And trust me, you are capable of great things!

So, what should you take away from this blog post? Mistakes = Learn = Grow

“Mistakes are proof that you are trying.” – Anonymous

“Life is all about evolution. What looks like a mistake to others has been a milestone in my life. Even if people have betrayed me, even if my heart was broke, even if people misunderstood or judged me, I have learned from these incidents. We are human and we make mistakes, but learning from them is what makes the difference.” –Amisha Patel (Bollywood actress)

Be blessed! :-)