This morning on my drive to work I was thinking about the mistakes I’ve made and how they’ve ultimately shaped the decisions I make now. I think that conscious decisions are formed by the combination of current knowledge and scars of previous mistakes.

For example, when I was about 12 years old I had a Super Nintendo, but didn’t own many games. I preferred to rent them for a few days to play, enjoy, get bored with, and return. One afternoon my mother had been grocery shopping and while at the store picked up a video game rental for me. I can’t remember what the title was, but I remember that it was neither new nor particularly interesting to me, and I had a fit. I can’t remember the degree of my fit but I can remember I was downright miserable to my mom, who had gone out of her way to bring me something I should have appreciated and had fun with.

I have not forgotten how I felt after making that mistake, and to this day whenever someone does something for me out of the kindness of their heart, I try to recognize and embrace it. Now, that’s not to say I always succeed, I’m sure I’ve made the same mistake again since, but I try harder because of that one BIG mistake.
The point is, making that huge mistake years ago left an imprint on me, that stays in my mind whenever a similar situation presents itself. So maybe the next time you say something insensitive to your significant other, or really screw up that project you’re in charge of at work, be sure to realize what you’ve done, and after, realize that you can survive that mistake and actually learn from it.