Today, when walking
home from school, a Range Rover reversed into me. In hindsight, there are
things I could have done differently, or better, although I still believe the
driver was more in the wrong than I was. Either way, it was an experience I
have learned from; always be very careful when it comes to cars in close
proximity.
As I continued my
walk home, it made me think. I made a mistake, and I have learnt a little from
it. It’s not much, but potentially lifesaving in a different situation. And
everyone does this almost every day. We make a small mistake and take something
out of it, something we can use later on in life, or that same day. Whether it’s
dealing with a friend who’s causing a spot of bother, or getting the wrong
answer in a maths question. These little things can be taken, improved on,
learnt from, and used in a different situation or lesson.
I’ll use the car
issue I had to deal with today as an example. Instead of stepping out into the
road to cross it whilst the car was encountering another, I could have waited
until the cars had gone their ways, and the road was clear. Now, I can take
this experience and, if and when, I am faced with a similar situation, I now know
what to do; be patient.
My German teacher
always used to look out for what she called ‘nice big juicy mistakes’. At the
time, I used to think she was just trying to get us excited about mistakes
because she liked them. But now, looking back, she was teaching us a valuable
lesson, even though she was rather patronising. I think what she was trying to
say, is that mistakes are good, and
they shouldn’t be ignored. Even the littlest things can become very useful
later in life, and she was trying to drill that into us at a very early age.
Personally, I think
the best thing about this ‘learning from mistakes’ is they can be any sort of
mistake that you have experienced. Whether you were dealing with someone in a restaurant,
having a fight with your friend or partner, going shopping, spilling a secret, in
a lesson or crossing the road.
Some are more common
than others, and some are more important than others, but basically what I’m
trying to say is that, after my experience today, it is good to look back on
things and think ‘what could I have done better?’ or ‘what did I do wrong that
I won’t do ever again ever?’
It’s amazing how much
impact the littlest things can have on day to day life.
