How many of you reading this article has ever done something that they immediately regret? Everyone? Good, so we are on the same page here. It happens. Everyone, everywhere does something that they regret the instant it happens. Have you ever said something entirely inappropriate and embarrassing? Everyday of everyone's lives. Have you ever hurt the people that they are closest to and love? Not intentionally, but yes. Have you ever done some questionable things that at the time seemed like a great idea, but was probably the stupidest thing anyone could have ever done in their entire life? Who hasn't though?
It is time to wake up and smell the roses. That is life, people! I swear that we were all put on this Earth to make complete asses of ourselves. No other purpose; just finely-tuned machines, designed to do incredibly stupid and ludicrous things. But, these are what also make us human. Our mistakes and mishaps are what shape us into the people that we will become.
Yes, things happen, and at the time it feels like you will never be able to live what happened down, but you must learn from your mistakes. Especially young people, your teen years to mid-twenties are when you are going to make all of the mistakes that make you the adult that you will become. It is a fact of life. However, it does not quite stop there. You will continue to make poor decisions and grow as a person for the rest of your natural born life. Deal with it.
You cannot dwell on the past for too long. Eventually it will begin to eat you alive. In this past year, I got into a relationship. In the beginning, things were amazing and wonderful and I loved every second, but they were also rocky. Now, six months later, I am stuck in the past, reliving every second, trying to figure out what happened and what could have gone differently, but, ultimately, realizing that I cannot take back what went down. I have to live with it. I have to grow off of it. But, every time I think back to it, it tears just a little bit deeper into me.
What I needed to do is take a step back and think about all the good that has come from it. Things were shitty, yes, but, are things the same as they were then? Hell no. I learned from my mistakes. I realized that I needed to make compromises. I realized that the people we were then, aren't the people that we are today. We have come so far with our relationship that we would not even recognize the people we were back then.
This is my advice to you: Take all of the mistakes you have ever made, and accept them. Understand what you did wrong. Learn to live with it. Realize that what you did is not actually all that bad (Honestly, you aren't the first person to mess up, and you will not be the last). After all, we are only human.
