TYPOS ARE NOT TATTOOS

TYPOS ARE NOT TATTOOS 

Through the magic of text messaging I was ranting to my daughter about how I had found a typo in one of my Facebook posts.  Text only posts are impossible to edit.

I was upset with myself, after all how could I have missed something so simple and hit the post button which instantly transported my mistake to the world of Facebook and its billion users? 

After a few back and forth acronym filled interactions, she hit me with, 
          “It just shows u r human and anyway 
             people are already liking your post.” 

We were both traveling in different parts of the country and I had little time to fuss with it, so I closed my Ipad and went on with my day. 
But—the typo continued to harass my mind.  Her text, “It just shows u r human,” played mental push back to my self-inflicted criticism.  

Then it hit me – she was right! 
It was just a typo.
A slide of my finger that hit one letter over from the one I intended.
One hit of a key on my keyboard.
It wasn't as if that one keystroke was going to be tattooed on me as a permanent mark of shame across my forehead that read –
            "I MADE A MISTAKE!"

In an hour it was lost in the stream of Facebook banter and hardly noticed.  The Facebook users who received it had let it go in minutes, maybe seconds, and continued to move on through the river of messages that flowed through their screens.
So why didn't I let it go as well?

How many times in life do we turn simple forgettable "life typos" into permanently inked tattoos that mark us for months, years or longer?
So much of our life dramas are really small insignificant issues that we allow to be blown into tragedy by telling and retelling the story of how it happened, criticizing ourselves for why it happened and bemoaning the outcome as if it were a monumental life changing event.

Most of them are not.

We need to know when to call a typo just a typo and not a tattooed mark of shame
We need to allow ourselves to be seen as human. 
                              ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Pennie’s Life Lesson:
          “Release the small mistakes in life
                        – allow yourself to be human.”
                   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  ~ ~ ~ ~ 

My intent in sharing this with you is to encourage you to give yourself a break from the constant self criticism that we all do.  We are all harder on ourselves than anyone else could be.  Show yourself some kindness!   

YOUR TURN - Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below.  And please feel free to email me  at:
                [email protected]. 
                          Thank you!  
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