Sure, making mistakes in your love life may feel kick-yourself embarrassing, time-wasting and reputation-sullying, but certain mistakes will earn you invaluable knowledge of your self. You can’t read that in a book. Switch up your attitude about your dating blunders! Picasso said mistakes are lucky, if you know how to use them. Here are 3 mistakes that are actually awesome – so forgive yourself already.
Putting yourself out there – way, way out there
We’re talking sending the unedited email you never got a response to, going in for the drunken kiss when it was absolutely inappropriate, and asking for a “more” and getting completely turned down. Ok, seriously -pat yourself on the back for going with your gut. Take a mo’ and imagine what your life would be like if you never tried to get what you really, really wanted. If you want a bold and uninhibited relationship, you’ve got to be bold and uninhibited about it at some point. Sometimes, it doesn’t work, and that’s ok.
Standing up for yourself
Getting super mad at someone – raising your voice, crying, throwing a balls-to-the-wall tantrum after you’ve been wrong-done by a partner (cheated on, called a name, disrespected you in some horrifying way), is not something to feel bad about. Standing up for what you really, really believe in is something you should do all the time, no matter who you’re with. If you don’t stand up for yourself first, no one else will. Fighting can actually be great for relationships. Here’s why.
Being super awkward
Failing brutally on a date happens. We all feel really awkward sometimes and it doesn’t mean you’re socially or romantically doomed. It means that dates can be hard. Sometimes it feels like a job interview or an exam. It’s near impossible to perform to the best of your charismatic and witty abilities when you’re nervous as hell. That’s the frustrating paradox of dating. The key is finding the keeper who doesn’t give a crap about a few awkward moments.
Doing something competely out of character
Looking straight ahead into a sea of red flags but totally throwing caution to the wind is a mistake most of us make in our young adult lives. Don’t kick yourself for allowing yourself to be whisked off your feet by a player / someone with baggage etc., who ended up acting exactly as you thought he might. Dating is about trying. Dating is about exporing. You learned a little (or a lot) about yourself – what you’re willing to tolerate, what you’re not willing to stand for, and what you want in a relationship. Besides, having a “type” and staunchly sticking to it will land you in a dating rut faster than you can say “I dunno … what do you wanna do?”
