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yesterday the question was "where am i?" and now today the question is "who am i?"

remember yesterday when i talked about if i made a mistake around here it is no big thing. it's just assumed that the mistake was innocent?

well, last week i made a mistake. not at work, but in my personal life. not a big mistake really, but an error. it was simply an error. and i didn't know i made the mistake until this morning. and when i found out, i was upset. with myself. and it didn't help that another person who was affected by this error in a peripheral way was upset with me. so if you would have asked me this morning who i was, i would have answered you "well, i'm an idiot."

so tonight at work, i also made a mistake and i was actually quite confused by it. and embarrassingly, i was right up there in front of people when i made it. and i was a bit upset with myself again. but then after the evening was over, i was driving home with someone and i told him i was so embarrassed about making the mistake. and he said "no, no, don't be embarrassed. i think you are awesome. so you made a mistake, sure, but you stepped right up and you took ownership of it and you forged right ahead and on with things. you smiled and took charge of things and you put it aside and moved on and ahead. i admired it. i admire you a lot for that."

so if you would ask me the question now "who are you?" instead of saying "well i'm an idiot" i would say "well, i'm a tenacious human being."

but isn't it fascinating how other people's reactions to you can make or break how you feel about yourself? or is this just me? am i too sensitive to how others see me that it can make all the difference to me how they react to me?

i don't know. but what i do think is that it all reinforces that we all need to remember to be as kind as we can be to each other. because i think for the most part unless you are mitt romney or tony bennett (the super not the singer) or mitch daniels or someone like that- you probably are just trying to do the best you can and you probably aren't out to destroy someone else's life even if you do make a mistake. evil was most likely not your intention. and you deserve to catch a little break and maybe even be admired for your ability to own up and move on.

who am i? i'm a person who is super grateful to be where i am and for the people who are here with me.