I can't believe I did that!

By Jessica Campbell, MS, FNTP

Have you ever made a mistake where you flat out forgot you had an appointment, forget to pick up your child, or just forgot to be where you said you would be. Yeah, I did that yesterday, only it was a yoga class that I was supposed to teach. Oops!

I know it happens to all of us, our memory is not as sharp as it used to be or we just completely check out. I did the latter. We were coming off of spring break, something I never take due to alternate work and school schedules, but this week was different.

We planned a quick weekend get away. You know the kind where you barely fit it in, race back late Sunday night and hit the ground running Monday morning. Then Tuesday you still don't feel caught up and you struggle to catch up on your daily duties until you collapse very late on the couch.

That was me until yesterday, when I tricked myself into thinking I had the day off to rest and catch up. I was sitting in the garden with my hens so I could relax while completing the massive amount of research and writing I had to do. When (luckily I had my phone handy) and saw a call from the community center where I teach yoga.

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"Yes?" I answered breathing calmly.

"Oh? It's Wednesday...?"

"Oh! It's Wednesday!!!"

I immediately fell back into my routine calendar and realized my yoga class should have started 15 minutes ago. Instead of just calling it quits, I jumped into my clothes, hustled the hens back to their coop, and scurried off to work.

But here's the funny part, I wasn't really embarrassed, panicked, or upset. In fact those two days on vacation and that little rest in the garden had calmed my system so much, that I simply walked in, apologized, laughed it off, and finished a 30 minutes class.

My point is this: nobody cared!

They all understood that everybody makes mistakes and they were releived that I simply owned up to my mine, apologized, and moved forward. If this were a few years ago I may have stayed hidden at home, cried, and thought I was a horrible person.

It was't until an older, wiser woman shared this phrase with me and I want to share it with you. She said "you're not that important." I admit it stung at first, but then I realized it was not a criticism, she was letting me off the hook. She was reminding me that the world can survive without me and I don't have to carry it on my shoulders, all the time.

I think we all deserve to make mistakes, to laugh at ourselves, and to remember that we're only human. Don't make up a silly excuse, don't feel like a bad person, just tell your truth, and move on.

I often have clients tell me they wish they could be perfect like me and it pains me to hear it.

I hope you see my imperfections are as real as yours.

I just work on letting them go, and it's a tough practice. I know it's important for my health and I feel better now that I I've shared that with you. Now we can all laugh about it.

I encourage you to share your mistakes. Be brave and let us know in the comments below. What silly mistake did you make? And to be fair, I'll share my husband's kitchen disaster.

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Other articles you may like:

Living With Errors -- Green Chakra Yoga -- Is Hanging Out Healthy