Stumbling over words

It’s a common trait. Say something wrong, put the foot in the mouth, feel bad about it later. Rinse and repeat each day.

This was my life. So much of my time was spent pondering the day, regretting what I’d said or done, and growing fearful of interactions instead of learning from them.

In the last few years I’ve taken a different approach.

Yes, I still say things wrong, daily.

But I don’t feel bad about it.

Much as I wouldn’t assume malice on the part of a friend fumbling their words—I’ve taken to treating my own spoken thoughts in the same way.

I give a little more grace to the mistakes I make, and when pointed out by my own brain or friends I take the opportunity to tweak and improve moving forward—but not to kick myself for honest mistakes in the past.

This could easily sound like justification for being a jerk and smugly assuming our actions have no repercussions on the lives of others. On the contrary, what we say and do matters to those around us. We impact the people in our circles, and can destroy as well as uplift.

But to spend so much time anxiously worrying about things doesn’t improve how we interact going forward.

Instead, we can take each mistake as an opportunity to tweak our our approach, modify our speech, and treat each interaction as a chance to get just a little better.

So, when you say something wrong, do try to improve, but too much time dithering can just lead toward doubt and uncertainty.

Mess up, then move forward.