Many mistakes move us forward more than backward. Conscientious people often experience a springboard effect following mistakes, whereby fixing the mistakes accelerates growth faster than if they'd never made any missteps.
I was in a domestic violence relationship where we were trying to become parents. We were doing IVF, trying adoption, and woven through all of that was a decade of domestic violence.
The turtle technique is often introduced to children to help them manage strong emotions, guiding them to pause, breathe, and step back before reacting. It sounds simple, yet it carries depth when practiced with intention.
A remarkable number of very different people tried to express a particular burden to me-a burden they had carried through their lives and felt deeply, but never had the words to express. These folks were not damaged, traumatized, or mentally ill. There was no diagnosis to capture their struggle. And they weren't actually different, or empty, or alone, but they felt this way for a reason.
