You aren’t perfect. You’ll never be able to tackle everything in life with skill and precision. Mistakes really do happen. And yet, these occasions tend to knock you down a few notches. Whenever you fail, the moments you zig instead of zag and end up paying in consequences – these incidents haunt your dreams. They make you feel incapable. They force you into a darkened room that preys on your self-esteem.

But it’s okay to make mistakes. It’s okay to mess up in life. If you were meant to be perfect, your life wouldn’t be nearly as meaningful.

Perfection may sound nice, but it isn’t worth your time.

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Because you are human, you will make mistakes. It’s inevitable. It’s bound to happen. Just as the world turns, you will fail. But with each failure doesn’t come the end of days. Those mistakes play a pivotal role in your life. They teach you meaning. They help you realize the value you’ve uncovered thus far on your journey. And what’s more – they help you find what you’ve been missing.

The point here? We are all prone to failure. We may exceed at certain things and have unique strengths. We may have achieved far more than expected. But that doesn’t make the down moments any less significant.

Your successes may feel better, but they don’t outweigh the value of your mistakes.

Don’t let anyone tear you down after making a mistake. Regardless of how obvious it was, remember that mistakes happen. Learn from them, but don’t let them break you. Certain mistakes are simply inevitable.

Here are 4 mistakes you may encounter in your life that are worth recognizing.

1) Choosing the wrong person to love.

Attraction is a funny thing. Sometimes, you fall in love for the wrong reasons. Other times, you fall too hard and lose yourself along the way.

It isn’t easy to find your person. Soulmates, if they’re real, come with a hefty price tag. You may not find the one you’re supposed to be with right away. You may spend years searching. You might spend valuable days and nights wondering when you’ll get lucky and find your match.

You will inevitably fall for the wrong person – perhaps multiple times. You will love the idea of someone more than the actual person. This doesn’t make you bad, it simply makes you human.

It’s okay if you chose the wrong person once, twice, or even 5 times. What’s important is that you learn from each situation. Eventually, you’ll find the right one. But those lessons can prove valuable for your search.

2) Constantly saying yes to overtime.

If you don’t need the money, learn when to say no. Even if you need the money, you must learn when enough is enough. Those extra hours may help shave some cents off your debt, but you can only work so much. You can only do so much before you get tired; before you become burned out on life.

Overtime is often a necessary evil worth tackling. But too much can be dangerous. Too much will jeopardize your self-worth. By working too many hours, you’ll slowly lose out on time you could spend on yourself. You’ll lose out on time with loved ones.

Time is fragile. We’re each only allotted so much of it. Unless your job is your life, you must be cautious of the hours you spend at the office. Overtime isn’t always worth the stress.

3) Losing sight of yourself.

We can’t always be on top of things. It’s easy to get side-tracked; roped into someone else’s dream. It’s simple to forget our own happiness.

We’re quite prone to serving the needs of others. As we help the rest of the world move forward, our life is stilled. We forget how to hold tight to our own dreams. Instead, we focus on how we could better further the passion of another.

We lose sight of ourselves.

This is an easy mistake to make. You might be doing it daily and not realize it until your passion bursts. While it’s okay to make such a mistake, you shouldn’t let it stick. Because let’s be honest – who are you if you’ve lose sight of yourself?

4) Saying it’s okay when it’s not.

We’re so prone to this, it’s actually quite sad. We live in a world that demands happiness. A place that aches for optimism and hope. These emotions are worth spreading, but it’s unrealistic to think you could always be okay.

Life is far too rattling; too unpredictable. It’s impossible to truly always be satisfied. And yet, it feels right to maintain that disposition; expected. But you must know when to stop making this mistake. You have to realize that the longer you continue lying to the world, the more you’ll forget yourself.

It’s okay to make this mistake. Necessary, even – especially in high-stress situations. But it’s not worth being a permanent feature of your life. Why? Because you matter. That should be enough of a reason to rethink your true feelings.

Don’t Let Your Mistakes Break You

Making a mistake doesn’t signify the end of the world. It might not be easy to come back from one. It may rock your path and turn your mind upside down. It may even set you on edge. But ultimately, that mistake has merit.

When you love the wrong person, you learn what not to look for in a partner. By taking on too much work, you learn how much of a workload you can handle. When you lose sight of yourself, you eventually realize your own significance. And the more you say it’s okay when it’s not, the more you’ll realize how tired you are. The more you’ll see how much you’ve been forgetting your own needs.

Don’t let a mistake cost you. It may be inevitable, but it doesn’t have to be meaningless.

Which of these mistakes have you made in life? How have you learned from them?