Someone left a picture on my desk at work last week.  It’s a picture of Einstein, with the following quote:  “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”  It made me smile.  I think this is so true!  Of course making mistakes is part of life.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  Live and learn.  That’s my philosophy in any case.

Or is it really?!

You see, I’ve wanted to try my hand at this blogging thing for yonks’ now.  But I haven’t.  Why? Because I don’t want to make a mistake, of course!  It has to be perfect!  I can’t just venture if I am not assured of the gain.  Live and learn?  No ways!  It has to be the best blog ever written, and it has to be perfect and I definitely can’t just try.  I might make a mistake, for goodness sake! And what does that say about me?

This afternoon I happened to glance at that picture again.  “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”  It made me smile.  I think this is so true!  Of course making mistakes is part of life.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  Live and learn.  That’s my philosophy in any case.

And then I realised.  I do believe that it is my philosophy – it’s what I tell people in my team, it’s what I tell friends, my husband.  Because it’s true!  That’s the way life works.  And it’s beautiful.  You can learn from mistakes.  It can make you better.  Sometimes things don’t work out, but it is never the end of the world.  Life goes on.  You make mistakes, you learn, you move on.

Wait, what?  Really?  So that would imply that I should give this blogging thing a go.  Because I want to.  Because I love to write.  Because I like to tell stories and I would like to share my experiences and the stuff in my head.   Because I might try it and actually hate it, or suck at it, or be good at it, or be completely average at it, and still enjoy it!  Or realise that it was a mistake and not for me!

I really don’t know who put that paper on my desk.  It actually never crossed my mind to ask!  Maybe a fairy godmother?!  If you are reading it, thank you!  Thanks for reminding me of what I actually hold true but forgot that I believed.  I’m going to give this blogging thing a go.  Watch this space for more mistakes and life in general!

PS:  Wait.  Can you say PS in a blog?  Isn’t that maybe a mistake?!

PPS:  You won’t believe how many times I’ve re-drafted this!