We all make mistakes, however, they are often smaller than they feel in the moment. If you’re like me, you will dwell on the mistake and replay it over and over in your head. The mental drain isn’t about the mistake itself, it’s about the blame spiral after. You know the part. You replay it, criticize yourself, and act like perfection was ever the point.
If you’ve read my book, The Path to Perfection: Parenting Without a Roadmap – Tales from a (Non) Perfect Parent, you know that nobody is a perfect parent. The same applies to life.
Let it go. Here’s some of my suggestions:
- Put on some crazy, energetic music like Shake It Off by Taylor Swift and, literally, shake it off.
- Visualize putting these negative thoughts and mistakes on a cloud while you let them float off into space.
- Find some humour in it, if you can. (“And now, the attachement…”)
- Write out the sequence of events, notice your emotions at the time, think of what you can do differently next time. Map any patterns.
- Grab a stone (like Chiastolite) and hold it. Chiastolite helps with mental clutter clearing, shifting softly from self-criticism to curiousity.
Think of any “wrong turns” as meaningful detours, rather than failures.
