Correct and Continue with Grace

Have you ever had a situation where you just knew that you made a big mistake? You made a decision that cost you a lot of money, or cost you a friendship, or whatever it was? What do you do?

You could get angry at yourself for being so stupid (I think I was trained to react this way when I was young). You could regret it, and spend days, weeks, months, lamenting your loss as you relive the horrid moment of decision over and over. You could get so depressed that you just stop trying because you no longer trust yourself. Or you could lash out at everyone around you.

Any of this sound familiar?

Well, I have learned something incredibly valuable in the past year. I have learned about the concept of Correct and Continue. When you realize you made a mistake, you OWN it. You say to yourself, “Wow, that didn’t work out the way I thought it would. What can I learn from this situation?” And then you correct and continue. You don’t get angry at yourself. You don’t blame anyone else. You simply make a new decision on how you will handle similar situations going forward.

Let me give you an example. If you have been following my blog, you will know that almost four years ago, I opened up a comic book store. We worked really hard at that store for three years, and when the time came, we realized that we were not seeing the results that we had projected. We could have continued to try more and more things, but we had already spent countless hours, resources, and mental anguish trying to turn things around. At some point, you just realize you have to cut your losses and move on, and that’s what we did. I went through a period of mourning. I still feel a little sad when I think about what we had, and how it is gone now. But, more importantly, I am grateful for the experience. I am grateful to have had that time working with my partner and my sons. I am grateful for all that I learned. And one of the biggest gifts I got was the ability to pick myself up, dust myself off, and start with something new.

I don’t know if I will ever have a retail store again, but I can say I DID it! I had that experience and no one can take that away from me. Sure, it wasn’t all sweetness and roses, but I definitely have great memories that I will always have for the rest of my life.

THAT’S correcting and continuing with grace…. to realize that all of the challenges are a necessary part of the journey, so that the journey just gets better and better.

I learned long ago that if we do NOT learn from our challenges, then they just come back harder and stronger until we do. Better to consciously and deliberately face the challenge, the difficulty, find the gift, the blessing, and then… correct and continue…. gracefully.