"Nobody's perfect, I got to work it again and again until I get it right."

I know we all just sang that song in our heads to the tune of Hannah Montana and immediately flash-backed to our childhoods. A time where life was easy and we only got in trouble for talking too much in class with our best friends and the only mistake we made was forgetting to do the rest of our math problems. Little did we know that life would get harder and we would only make more mistakes along the way to success.

Mistakes are inevitable. Everyone will make a mistake in their lifetime, some of us will only make minor ones and some will choose to make the biggest mistake of their life. Either way, we all do it. Whether it is skipping class and not doing your work or lying to your parents about being at a party they asked you not to go to- it will happen. The important thing to remember is that mistakes do not define who you are. If anything, it just helps shape who you are.

So you skipped a class, missed an assignment and it brought your grade down a little bit? Learn from it, work harder, and move on. You lied to your parents and got caught? Admit your mistake, take your punishment, and move on. Like Taylor Swift once said, "who you are is not what you did, you're still an innocent." These lyrics are very important because we all make choices-good or bad- and we must learn from them and grow from them. Just because you make a bad decision, does not mean you are a bad person.

Now that we have established that everyone will make mistakes and it does not change who you are as a person, the best way to get through a mistake and let yourself move on is through admitting you messed up. Sometimes our pride can get the best of us and we have a hard time admitting that we did something wrong and could have prevented the outcome but in order to move on; you have to admit that you slacked off or lied. After that, you have to deal with the consequences whether that be a low GPA for the next semester or being grounded for a while you have to accept it and do your best to right the wrong. The last thing you have to do is forgive yourself. I will be the first to tell you that this is the hardest step for me. Often times, it takes me a while to forgive myself because I hang onto my mistakes and dwell on them but that is detrimental for growth.

Remember to take everything as a lesson and use it as a stepping stone in order to move forward. We must teach ourselves to look at the positives in life rather than always looking at the negative and of course we can always refer back to the wise words of Hannah Montana and sing "Nobody's Perfect" together while we bask in the glory of our mistakes.