There are so many things in life that can make or break a person. Learning how to pivot, twist, bend, and shake as things go can be difficult. We all make mistakes, whether it’s something we say or do. No one person is perfect. Life is a dance of mistakes and wins. As an Irish playwright, George Bernard Shaw once said, “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
Learning that Life Is a Dance
Mistakes are all a part of living. When we are born, we don’t come with a manual. We earn how to do things by trial and error. Children don’t know not to touch fire because it will burn. Their parents or loved ones teach them that lesson, and by testing it out for themselves. Like they will touch food fresh out of the oven, turn the hot water on and play in it until it “burns,” them kinds of things. Some may even attempt to touch an actual flame until they feel the heat of that fire and realize they don’t like it.
There is no surefire way to ensure one lives a happy existence. All one can do is ebb and flow through all the twists and turns. Life is a dance that has no choreography. Therefore, the only way to reach perfection is to keep practicing.
If everything was set out for us, living would be boring. There would be no individuality, no uniqueness. It would be like living in a black-and-white movie. Without sorrow, how would anyone truly be able to appreciate joy? We’d all just be operating as cogs in a machine.
Mistakes Don’t Define Us
That being said, the mistakes we make do not define us. What defines us is whether or not we learn from our mistakes and rise up from them. Sometimes those mistakes cost us a lot of time in our lives. Sometimes when we are younger, we have the mindset that we are invincible. Like the world is our oyster prime for the picking. Then we end up doing something extremely stupid and land ourselves in jail or prison.
Most people who are sent to these facilities actually look back on the stupidity of their actions. It isn’t until they are released and try to live a better life that they find out how much they messed up. These foolish actions could cost them the opportunity of a good life. Some employers, landlords, and people look down their noses at people who don’t stay on the straight and narrow. They don’t place the fact that life is a dance and we learn as we go.
Guess they never heard of John Michael Montgomery’s song “Life’s a Dance.” In his song, he tells people, “Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow. Don’t worry about what you don’t know. Life’s a dance you learn as you go.”
Dancing Through Your Mistakes
“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing,” is another good quote from Bernard Shaw. Happiness doesn’t come from not trying, it comes from living. Additionally, it doesn’t come from making people feel bad about who they are or their stature in life. Like a Chinese Proverb states, “If you want happiness for an hour — take a nap. If you want happiness for a day — go fishing…want happiness for a year — inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime — help someone else.”
Just remember, life is a dance; you don’t have to be light on your feet to enjoy moving to the beat.
By Sheena Robertson
Top and Featured Image Courtesy of Steven Pisano‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image by Balise42 Courtesy of Wikimedia – Creative Commons License
