Have you ever made a mistake in your life?
I believe that every single one of us makes mistakes. And if everyone makes mistakes, then the issue must be not the mistake itself, but what we do with it.
Allow me to share with you three possible things that we do with our mistakes.
1ST CHOICE: COVER UP OR HIDE
Even if it’s “normal” to make a mistake, it’s still not easy for us to accept our mistakes.
There are some people that for as long as they can hide their mistakes, they will do it. They will do whatever it takes to bury their mistakes six feet under.
They think that other people have no way of knowing anyway. When you accidentally bumped the car in the parking lot on your way out, you hurried even more just so no one will know that it was you.
In line with the attempt to cover up a mistake, some people also choose to…
2ND CHOICE: LIE
Covering up a mistake can also result to lying.
Your wife saw the dent in your car. She asked you, “What happened? Did you bump the car?” Your press release? “Oh, you know what, it was already there when I got there. I was surprised myself!”
Because we don’t want people to know about our mistakes, we come up with these fictional stories. Whenever we choose option one, it’s likely that we will also resort to option two. To cover up a mistake, we need to bury it under a mountain of lies.
These options can be the easy way out, but trust me, they’re not. They will only burden us and will result to more unpleasant things. This is why for me, the best option is to…
3RD CHOICE: ADMIT
Let’s use Steve Harvey’s experience as an example. He had a choice to not go up the stage anymore.
He could have just stayed in the backstage. He could have just told the management that he couldn’t face the public to say that he made a mistake.
He had the option to lie and pass on the blame to someone else. He could have created a fictional story to “save” himself from all the shame that he could possibly face.
But as we all know, he admitted his mistake. In front of billions of viewers.
It’s hard enough to admit a mistake to one person, what more to billions of people?
But Steve Harvey became a very good example when it comes to handling a mistake. He admitted his mistake and apologized for it. Yes, there were still CONSEQUENCES, but what was important was that he didn’t have to suffer the heavy burden hiding and living a life of lies.
The choice is ours to make. And every time we commit a mistake, we have to choose the best option to correct it. Will we choose what’s best for us today? Or will we choose what’s best for us for the rest of our lives?
THINK. REFLECT. APPLY.
If you recently made a mistake, what do you plan to do about it?
Will your choice of action have a good effect in the long run?
What did you learn from the mistake that you made?
