Posted 19:56 by Tycho

Ok, made a hard choice today. It hurt, but had to be done.

Now, I have accepted that I made mistakes. I make them all the time. I learn lessons the hard way.

Part of life is making mistakes. This time I didn't learn from it and instead of moving on, I bashed myself against it, and made more mistakes, which only further hurt me. I didn't stop to put things into perspective. That just made me a nervous wreck.

From this very difficult time in my life, I've learned a few [extremely] important lessons:

1. "Whenever you're feeling down, smile and show your dimples."--my late Aunt [may you Rest in Peace]...possibly the truest advice I've ever heard. I'd do anything to hear her say that to me one more time. Though having a smile on the order of Medusa's doesn't help my charisma bonus. But it does give some pretty cool new statues to add to my collection every now and then.

2. The past is the past. Regardless of what mistakes have been made, you can't go back and change things. You shouldn't dwell or agonize over it. Just realize what you did wrong, apologize for it, learn from the mistake, and don't repeat it.

3. NEVER doubt your friends, no matter how distant they seem to be. It is extremely emotionally draining to believe you are truely alone in this cruel world. How draining? To the point of curling up into a little ball and screaming your head off until your throat runs bloody. No, I have not done that, but the only reason why I haven't is because then someone would put me in a straight jacket and sent me off to the loony bin [back to where I came from].

4. Don't let depressing situations control your life. It's good to grieve, it's a coping mechanism, but don't let it consume you. I let that happen. If it hurts so badly that you can't snap out of it, then go talk to someone you can trust. Immediately. Not only will it calm you down, but they can point stuff out to you that you've missed, and they can give objective advice.

Now that I've learned from my mistakes, I can now make a concerted effort to avoid making them again. No guarantees, for I'm only human.