Make No Mistake About It!

        Um... okay, yeah.  I am a little late on the Monday post for this week.  I guess I could say my mind went on vacation after last week, but I had started this... Ahem.

        Well, let's get moving, shall we?

"Anyone who has never made a mistake

has never tried anything new."

~ Albert Einstein

        Did you know, it's okay to make mistakes?  I've often heard (and felt) that so many of us are afraid of them, and even more afraid of failure.  I could list a number of famous achievers who succeeded in their niche, but only after a number of mistakes and "failures".  I could...but I'm not going to.  You can search it, after all. ;)

        In scientific research, discovering something does not provide the desired outcome is not (usually) a horrible, catastrophic thing.  In fact, it is a great part of the process - it teaches that there is another way, somehow, if we can only find it!  It is merely another step in the process.  Ruling out what doesn't work, and learning why, can be a great part of learning!

        This happens to be Week 24 of my personal challenge to make it through Christine Morgan's book, "Motivational Mondays".  In this section, with her comments and insights, she asks this question:

What will you try that is new, this week?

        I kind of like Christine's choice of quote, with this question.  It almost seems like she's asking, "What kind of mistakes are you willing to make, this week?"  If we look at it from that perspective...would it help us get out of the fear mindset, and into a more positive, self-empowered one?  If we actively decide the risks with which we could live, would it make it easier to make more confident choices?

        Having lived with various forms of anxiety, pretty much all my life, I've had to learn how to face fear, simply to survive and function at all.  Being so afraid of what negative might happen that we shut down and can't make, nor follow through with choices, robs us of the possible, amazing potential that could balance the risk! 

        As I've mentioned before, I've had...a fair amount of real-life training in this area.  I'm not particularly a master of it, yet, but I'm working toward it.  One can only do so much, after all.  However, I've been getting more practiced at it, which is: "Yay me \o/ !"  I've come rather far, actually, and that would be the point!  Just like with any physical or mental skill, emotional skills require practice in order to make them "stick".  And as we practice, we get better at them, and can build on their foundation.  Humans are so amazing, that way, don't you think?

        It just so happens that this week, I'm preparing to enter a kind of program that teaches various skills and methods working within the mental health field.  I'm hoping that through this education, I'll be more able to understand some concepts and abilities that people can have in handling myriad challenges in this area.  I'm not perfectly confident in the potential of my mastering anything related to this, but I'm willing to try, because the benefits that might happen, are greater to me than the time and effort spent on trying it.  Technically, the program doesn't actually begin for me until next week, but the process of beginning to prepare for it is happening now...so I'm claiming it as my answer to Christine's question!  It's my project and I can fudge if I want to. ;)

        So there you go!  My friends, I encourage you to go out and make some mistakes!  I'd actually love to have you share what you choose, and how it works out for you, since that would kind of help reinforce my own ability to have some courage, here lol!  You can either comment below, or on the PB Project Facebook Page.

        Better days ahead, my friends!