No Need For Excuses

My Beloved Readers, (Peace and blessing be upon you)

Has it ever happened to you that you are caught or made aware of your mistake, and you out rightly deny doing it? Has it ever happened that you burnt something and blamed your siblings for distracting you? Or when you are late, and you try to justify that behavior instead of admitting the truth?

No wonder we all have been to that place and the easiest way to come out of such situations is we lie and put the blame on others. And when interrogated upon those lies, from one lie now we create a chain of lies which at the end makes us feel exhausted and burnt out.

As human beings, none of us are free from making mistakes in life. But at the same time instead of denying or not committing those mistakes, we should start accepting our wrongdoings in the very first place which will not only help us learn from those mistakes but will also stop us from repeating those same mistakes in the future.

I remember one time I was caught laughing when we were supposed to be reading the lessons, and when the teacher asked me, “why I was laughing?” instead of telling her the truth I lied and said I wasn’t laughing. Instead of accepting my actions I instantaneously lied. 

And the consequence I had to face after that was to stand in front of the entire class for half an hour and having everyone eyes on me. Not only was I embarrassed but I was mad at my own self for not accepting my actions.

So, the next time when I was caught giggling in the middle of the class by a different teacher and was asked the same question, I accepted and said the truth. Not only I was forgiven by that teacher but was also praised for accepting my behavior rather than lying.

Isn’t it beautiful that God is eagerly waiting to forgive us for the things which we can’t even forgive ourselves for? We just have to admit our mistakes and humble ourselves in front of our Lord.

It’s never too late to learn from our mistakes so we must start taking accountability and responsibility for our actions and words.

How to take responsibility:

1.  Accepting our mistakes: Everyone makes mistakes, it’s a part of life. But not everyone dares to accept their actions or wrongdoings because acceptance demands truth which we are afraid to speak out loud.  

Instead of blaming and collecting evidence to prove our mistakes right, we should learn to own and face our mistakes. Not only this will help us to learn and move on but also, it’ll save us from stress and the heaviest of feelings “of guilt”.

Activity: Write a situation where you accepted your mistake and things turned out to be completely fine. 

2. Holding on to the reins: When we blame other people for our wrong actions, we pass on the power to that person. Which leads to them having power over us and the situations. Not taking responsibility for our wrong actions may at first feel comfortable and less demanding but in the long run, there could be a price we have to pay.

3. Saving yourself from guilt: We lie to protect our pride but at the same time we shouldn’t forget that we invite the shame and guilt to wash over us. Sometimes the guilt can be so overwhelming we start to ponder that telling the truth would’ve been a better option.

When we own our mistakes then there is no room left for guilt to take place.

4. End negativity: When we unfairly blame others for our actions, we somewhere start to have bad blood with them and lose the once so-good bond which took years to create.

Instead of spreading negativity, we should start holding ourselves accountable for our actions before anyone does so.

If you are willing to accept your short comings then surely it is appropriate to take the credit when all is well.

With Love,

Asma