We make mistakes, we correct them, we change our course, and we try to fix what’s broken.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to error that counts. Nikki Giovanni

Sometimes we think we’ve done everything the same but the outcome is not the same, and if a mistake was made, most of the time we are the ones that made it.

This happened to me when I received the author’s proof of my next children’s book. It wasn’t quite the same size as my first one. It was printed in Canada and the first one was printed in the U.S. but that wasn’t the problem, the problem was the size I chose for the first one was 8.5 inches by 8.5 inches and the size I chose for the second one was 8.25 inches by 8.25 inches. My Files were created to 8.5 inches so why did I choose 8.25 inches when setting it up?

Purchasing an author’s proof lets us see what the book will look like and we can make any changes before it is published. Yesterday, I realized the error and changed the size with the click of a button. It is easy to assume we’ve done everything right but when we double-check our work often we find something we’ve overlooked, or does this only happen to me?

There is a lot of human error that impacts our lives, sometimes it is as inconsequential as a book not being the same as a previous book, but there are many times when the error is consequential in our and other people’s lives.

We might not be able to prevent errors from happening, we have to deal with them and correct them when we can, and live with the consequences when we can’t.

I remember when I used to sew and that first cut in the fabric, especially if it was nice expensive fabric was hard. That first cut committed us and if we made a mistake sometimes we had to start all over with new fabric.

You need to give yourself permission to be human. Joyce Brothers

How do people handle decisions that are important, sometimes life or death? How do they deal with that type of responsibility? Their decisions impact lives, businesses, and economies. Their decisions have intended and unintended consequences.

We may think if we were in power we wouldn’t make that decision, we would consider more carefully what we think needs to be considered. Everyone will not be happy with the decisions made by the decision-makers, and the decision-makers realize this and have to live with the decisions they make, and so do we.

We may work to influence the decision-makers, and complain, or we might work in our circle of influence to make our little part of the world the best it can be. Laws are changed all the time that were brought in, and it can be funny to look at old laws that leaders must have thought were necessary and good for society when they were brought in.

Do we realize we make mistakes but expect others not to? Is that realistic? Are we judging the past by what we now believe, and judging history and the decisions made more harshly than we should?

I am not afraid of making mistakes. But my mistakes were those that I could afford. That’s very important: mistakes will happen but you must ensure that you keep them within limits you can afford. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala

Do not take yourself too seriously. You have to learn not to be dismayed at making mistakes. No human being can avoid failures. Lawrence G. Lovasik

The greatest mistake a man can ever make is to be afraid of making one. Elbert Hubbard

Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you will come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.