Finding fault within ourselves is common. Every day we wake up, and our imperfections have a way of revealing themselves to us (physically, mentally, and emotionally); it is our responsibility to make one of two choices:
Embrace our imperfections, faults, and our pasts with positivity and optimism.
Reject our imperfections, faults, and our pasts with negativity and cynicism.
Pressure Refines
When you go to the gym, what are you doing? You’re applying stress to your body to strengthen and refine it.
When you make a poor decision, fail, or make a mistake, you can execute one of three choices:
Learn from the decision and make better ones. [aka refinement]
Miss the lesson and continue making poor decisions.
Throw in the towel and become overwhelmed with regret and self-hate — essentially cease to live.
The Value of Embracing Perfection
If you learn from a mistake, you have become stronger and wiser in the process. Tribulation has a way of revealing who we are: we either fold, or we flourish.
If you embrace your imperfections, they can’t be used against you or bring you down. When you embrace your faults, you move through life much easier because some faults are inevitable.
Rejecting your faults and permitting them to rule your mind and life commences a journey of self-destruction and self-hate. You start to make life-altering choices that reflect how poorly you care about yourself and others.
Don’t Throw In The Towel Over Your Mistakes
I could’ve, I should’ve, and I would’ve are all excuses to not be significant and live out your full potential. Anytime you make an excuse for why you are not where you want to be in life, you’re giving up.
Never allow your past to dictate your present and future outcomes negatively. Don’t give up. Be resilient. The more resilient you are, the more your purpose will unfold and reveal its beauty and fulfillment to you.
“Kintsukuroi is a kind of Japanese ceramic style. The word Kintsukuroi means ‘to repair with gold.’ In the Kintsukuroi tradition, when a ceramic piece breaks, an artisan will fuse the pieces back together using liquid gold or gold-dusted lacquer. So rather than being covered up, the breaks become more obvious, and a new piece of art emerges from the brokenness.
Kintsukuroi embraces flaws and imperfection, but it also teaches the essence of resilience. Every crack in a ceramic piece is part of its history, and each piece becomes more beautiful because it has been broken.
You will fall. You will fail. You will break. You will stand up and dust yourself off. You will repair yourself again and again. And eventually, though you will be different than before, you will again become whole. You will be even more beautiful precisely because of all this.
You will be a better person because of your imperfections, not in spite of them.”
— Cyndie Spiegel
Don’t give up greatness because of your past. Don’t believe you no longer have beauty because you feel “broken.” Your self-worth, self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-value all depend on one person: you. Life is not meant to destroy us; it’s meant to build, refine, and empower us.
Destiny S. Harris is a writer, poet, entrepreneur, teacher, and techie who offers free books daily on amazon. Destiny obtained three degrees in political science, psychology, and women’s studies. Follow her on Instagram, Facebook, or @ destinyh.com.