“Oh, my god,” I said, clasping my head in my hands; a look of horror flooding my face. While checking in at the airport I was informed that I had messed up on some paperwork and one of my kids would miss the flight.

I had planned well, prepared way in advance, and made sure everything was in order for the international trip three of my kids would be taking to be with their mother. How could I have been so careless? Now that was a big mistake, and I felt like a huge failure.

At the check-in counter the details of what it would take to correct this blunder overwhelmed my mind but my biggest worry was the disappointment and stress this put on my daughter. My first reaction was not good and it burned an negative impression into her mind.

That first reaction is never an easy one to control in these kinds of situations, but the decisions we make immediately after that determined how such blunders will impact our lives.

I’m writing this 48 hours after the fiasco and I’m happy to say things are back on course… sure, not as planned, but in the big picture of life this was just a hiccup, because it’s not what happens that to us that determines our well-being but how we handle what happens. Seeing how I handled everything in the long run has hopefully been a positive influence on my daughters impressionable young mind as well.

Here are few ideas to help you, the next time you’re faced with failure:

  1. Accept it. It is what it is. It can be incredibly hard to hold back from adding meaning to or pinning the blame for a challenging situation. Skip the guilt-tripping, let go of the emotional torture. It’s gonna control you or your are going to control it.
  2. Be present in order to find a solution. Take a deep breath and focus on the moment you’re in. You can’t change what happened so bring your attention to the present moment in order to take positive action and change things from that point forward.
  3. Think. You may need to think fast and make a decision quickly, but don’t allow a knee jerk reaction to take over and cause you to make another mistake. You may need to change your plans, but be sure you are not doing it from a position of worry or fear.
  4. Find the good in the situation. The more you practice this the easier it gets. Learning from your failures turns them into stepping stones to a better life.
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  5. Let it go. Simply forgive the rest and that includes you or anyone else you may hold responsible for the problem. This cannot be understated, forgiving frees you from emotional baggage you don’t need to be carrying around.

 Over to you…

[reminder]What would you add to this post?  How has one of your recent failures benefited your life in a positive way[/reminder]