Growing Through Your Mistakes

Empowerment is defined as becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling your life and claiming your rights. Yes, you read that correctly!

Claiming your rights!

You have a RIGHT to receive love that is free from emotional and physical pain.

You have a RIGHT to ask and receive those things which will grow you personally, spiritually, and professionally.

You have a RIGHT to stand strong in your values and beliefs.

If we have all of these rights, why do we as women “suck it up and take it” and just “deal with the hand that you’ve been given”?

Do you want to know why? Well it’s because we tend to pull out all of the video clips of bad decisions and past mistakes and put them on continuous play like it’s a movie. We constantly remind ourselves of them and hold them tight in our hands.

But you cannot receive blessings and favor if your hands are full with past mistakes and old hurts. It is important that we don’t continue to punish ourselves because of what we’ve done or the decisions that we’ve made. Release them from your hands by practicing self-forgiveness.

Let’s learn from those mistakes and think of how you would handle a similar situation should it happen again. View a mistake as an opportunity for growth and development. We often hold on to past mistakes because, in a way, we think that will help us from making the same mistake again. Having the belief in yourself and a vision for your future will help you to feel more in control of your future choices and more willing to forgive your past choices.

Take a look at the graphic below and use it as a growth activity for self-forgiveness. At the top identify one past mistake or decision made and then identify at least three lessons you have learned (area of growth and development). Then identify how, if faced with a similar situation, you will handle the situation based on your growth and development.