Whenever I trip in public, I usually end up tripping twice. The first trip is out of clumsiness, and the second trip is caused by me over-thinking the first trip. I’m too busy worrying about if someone saw me mess up the first time to continue walking correctly.

I apply this way of thinking to other aspects of my life as well. After I make the first mistake while speaking publicly, everything else goes downhill from there. I’m too busy thinking about the one thing I pronounced incorrectly, to continue my sentence.

Last week I realized that I made several mistakes that were all catching up to me at once. These mistakes weren’t as minuscule as tripping in public. These mistakes had real consequences. I was worried, I was embarrassed, and I couldn’t focus.

Instead of being able to pick myself up and right my wrongs, I was too busy thinking about who saw me mess up. I felt as though I should just give up instantly. However, after talking with my friends and family, I came to a realization. No one is saying that I need to be perfect, other than myself. I am the only person expecting myself to never mess up, to never make a mistake. It’s illogical, but it also wastes time. So what, I messed up!

Now, what am I actually going to do about it? I could sit and mourn over every flaw I have and everything I’ve done wrong, or, I could try harder the next time. I could take every bad situation as a learning lesson. I could work differently and smarter, and humble myself.

You see, in college, we are bound to make many mistakes. Sometimes we have the opportunity to correct them, and sometimes we don’t. If we can’t correct our mistakes, it really stinks. All we can do is move on. But if we can correct them, we should try our hardest to make things better.

Its okay to trip. It’s what you do after the trip, that counts in the long run.