“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually be afraid you will make one” -Elbert Hubbard
For too many years I’ve been so afraid to make a mistake. To do poorly in class, to misjudge the character of others, to trust other people when I shouldn’t, to say or do or look or feel “wrong.”
But whats “wrong?” Who decides what is “wrong” or “right?” Sure, there are many objective aspects of life where things are clearly right or wrong, where there is a right and a wrong way to do something. But how did we figure out the inherently right or wrong, good or bad of something? Someone, somewhere, somehow made a mistake.
Lets think about all the things that happened because of a mistake- Post-it notes created by a mistake, western union said the telephone was a useless silly device that would never be used, the chairman of IBM said that there would only be use for 5 computers total worldwide, Bill Gates said 640K would be enough for everyone, coca-cola and chocolate chip cookies were both created by mistakes, tires, silly putty, penicillin, …the list goes on.
So why on earth am i putting such great pressure on myself to be perfect? What is perfection? Maybe in my course of trying to be the best at everything I’m missing out on an opportunity to make an important mistake. So I think my goal from here on out is to learn what I can, ask questions and jump in. Could it be possible grad school isn’t about what you learn but what you screw up?
“So I guess this is the ending or a beautiful mistake.”
