The day came when I was leaving for college and there I was sitting in the back of a pick up truck with all of my belongings. There was one thing that was not coming with me when I left for school and that was the bag filled with all of the mistakes I made in the past. I tucked them all away and chose to not relive them. I came into my freshman year as a new person. I refused to let my life be dictated by my past failures. Mistake number one in college: avoiding your mistakes does not make them go away. Some mistakes will just roll off your shoulders but others will consume all of your thoughts and command all of your attention.

I went through my first year with no problems besides a few mental break downs due to the amount of work I was not prepared for at all. My life was a million times less stressful and drama free for the most part. I kept pushing those idiotic high school mistakes further and further down in my mind.  Unfortunately my sophomore year is a different story. This past semester has been one hell of a ride for me. I have made mistakes. A lot of mistakes, actually. But I have learned something about myself that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.   People aren't just saying that you can learn from your mistakes for no reason. I never truly learned from these events in my life before a couple of weeks ago when I made a mistake that costs me a good friend. I sat in my apartment for five hours racking my brain on why the hell I did all the things I did and why I somehow got myself in situations I would never wish upon anyone. I came to the conclusion that I'm nowhere near a failure, I'm just human.  

Everyone makes mistakes, everyone. Mistakes are crucial to your character. Mistakes are in your old high school relationship that you never got over or, hey, still talk to even though they have moved on. They are in that time you lied to one of your closest friends. They are in that time you started hysterically crying at a frat party after talking to the guy you really should not have approached in the first place. They are in the math exam that you failed, more than once. They are in the drunk texts you sent to the guy who said he wanted to just be friends. They are most definitely in that time you dyed your hair way too red.    

These moments of ignorance, embarrassment, stupidity and foolishness can be more than mistakes. They can be lessons that teach you something you would not have learned if you did not fail. So, to the person reading this article right now, I am promising you that your mistakes do not need to be ignored. They do not need to be pushed further down into your mind where you force yourself to forget them. Every mess up you have had, big or small, has the ability to help you grow into a better version of yourself. You are the only person who can open the door to these experiences. I wish I could go back and tell my freshman year self that it’s okay to make mistakes because they help identify our faults. Use your mistakes and make them experiences.

Learn from what you have done. Do not let your mistakes define you in a negative way. Accept yourself and grow from it.