Sometimes You Have to Start Over

Are you willing to admit when you are wrong?

One of the greatest qualities in leaders, parents, and role models, is the ability to admit when they’ve made a mistake.

It sounds so easy, yet it is so very hard to do. Pride is not an easy thing to part with. (When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Prov. 11:2 NIV)

It would be easy to admit you messed up or made a mistake, if the only audience watching, was yourself. But when you have others looking at you and to you – it can be so hard to swallow that pride and admit you made a wrong decision. After all, that would mean you are human and flawed – right? And sometimes, unfortunately, we are much, much too good at acting like we have it all together.

The thing about admitting you are wrong is, that it is very freeing. It’s kind of like admitting you stole that cookie from the cookie jar. You know you did it, everyone else knows you did it, so it’s just easier to say it out loud. Admit it. OWN it. You will gain more respect that way.

If more people owned their errors and mistakes, I believe there would be less insecurity, depression, stress, and jealousy out there. People would be more authentic and know how to relate better to one another. A role model, a parent, or a leader IS human. They do have bad days and they do get sick. They let their emotions get the better of them sometimes, and they listen to bad counsel occasionally. It’s ok. It happens.

It’s life.

But to be an admirable person, you need to acknowledge and admit where you went wrong. Take it head on. Learn and grow from it. Let it make you stronger and better at what you do, while also reminding you that you are no more important than anyone else. No less human. It will help you be more relatable and it will keep you honest.

Mistakes are a great way to keep us humble. They show us that with one breath, everything can change. It’s fun to stand on the mountaintop and feel like you are holding all the power in your hands, but it’s a sobering perspective to be looking up from the ground, wiping the dirt from your face, because you fell and failed.

Get back up. Wipe the dirt off. Straighten your back. Grab a hand if one is held out to you, and start over. Start better. Start kinder. But start again.