Humans

It’s Actually Okay To Be Wrong

You Aren’t Living If You Don’t Screw Up Royally Every Now And Then

What’s the phrase Walt Kelly coined by way of his poster created for the very first Earth Day April 22nd 1970? His character Pogo is standing at the edge of a swamp holding a litter pick-up stick and a burlap bag. In front of him are tons of garbage humans have discarded.

The poster reads:

“We have met the enemy and he is us.”

As Humans, we’re often our own worst enemies. It’s a wonder we’re still thriving on Terrafirma because of all the bone head mistakes we’ve made through our existence.

But that’s the point. It’s how we learn things. By royally screwing up every now and then. We’ve all had those— I’ll never do that again — moments in our lives.

Some of us a lot more than others. But it’s okay. Really it is.

If we’re not having a few or a lot of pivotal life learning mistakes, we’re really not living. We’re just floating along, taking the path of least resistance, and not growing. Unfortunately, none of us gets a hall pass on being wrong. It’s a tough life and we’re often forced to mature faster than we’d really like to at times.

The sad truth of it is, we can’t live out our days in Never Never Land. Our lives are about choices, the good ones we make, and the not so hot ones we made.

Where it gets really difficult is when we refuse to admit when we’re wrong. It’s okay to be wrong. It’s okay to admit it to yourself and others. Especially yourself. The problem starts when we openly admit we’re a flawed human being and yet deep down don’t believe we are.

Okay, now we’ve just screwed up big time. All those little lies we try to tell ourselves are one day going to pour out and overwhelm us. Next, we’ll be curling up in tears sitting on the couch with a box of Kleenex and a tub of Haagen-Dazs.

For the record, I’m a Blue Bunny kind of dude.

Still, admitting failure and flaws in ourselves is tough. Sometimes we get caught up in a state of perfectionism. We want everything we do or say to be spot on and in the zone. When it’s not, we just can’t admit we were wrong, that we made the wrong choice, hooked up with the wrong people, or wrote the wrong story.

Instead, we believe we weren’t wrong about anything, we know exactly what we’re doing, the people we’re hanging with are harmless and we tell ourselves there’s not a d*mn thing wrong with our work.

Some of us stride around like proud peacocks, unfurling the gorgeous feathers of our tangible accumulations and our accomplishments.

But here’s the thing about pride.

Having pride in what you do is both positive and nurturing but at the same time can become a very dangerous state of mind if you’re never willing to admit to yourself and others you screwed up.

It’s okay to be wrong. It’s okay to admit you’re wrong.

In most parts of the world, our admissions of fault are expected and valued almost as much as when we’re right about something. Admitting fault and failure is one step toward mindfulness and humility.

Not an easy thing to do I assure you.

Even after sixty-seven years of dancing the jig on this mortal coil I sometimes simply hate to admit I screwed up. It’s those— d*mn P.G. you should have known better — moments that always stick in my craw when the realization slams into me.

But rather than hide behind a wall of peacock feathers, nowadays I just fess up and do my best to chalk it up on my life’s scoreboard, remember the lesson my screw up taught me, and move on.

Learning to do that, to admit to ourselves and others we’re wrong about something brings with it some interesting benefits as well.

People will begin paying attention when we stop and weigh in on something. They understand we’re willing to admit fault and failure and so what we’re telling them lends itself to better credibility.

Most people will start to believe we will be more willing to gather as much information as we can before we make a decision on something or suggest something to someone.

No, we won’t become hesitant to make a decision. We’ll just begin making better-informed decisions.

And guess what?

Some of them may still be wrong. When they are we know what to do, right? Yeap, chalk it up on the scoreboard, remember it and move on.

Tell ourselves it’s okay to be wrong.

Even if we tell ourselves we’re never ever going to do that one thing we did again, it’s okay to admit we screwed up royally.

Thanks So Much For Reading

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