“Failure is a bruise. Not a tattoo!”
by John Sinclair
A friend of mine is a perfectionist. Better at money management than I am (no surprise there. Even doctors smoke and drink more than their patients :)) She has a budget and sticks to it – everything in its place and a place for all things.
A few years back, her father fell sick. It was terminal. The family did all they could to ensure he was as comfortable as humanly possible until his last day. Health is the expensive. It costs to be healthy and it costs not being healthy.
All her best laid plans were overturned. In order to take care of her dad, she emptied her savings, liquidated her investments and got into debt. She became “that friend/that relative” that calls or texts and you know she is going to ask for money. Whether it is a loan, a give or a plea.
This situation broke her. Well, it also helped her discover who her fine and fair weather friends were. “I should have planned better,” she kept lamenting. But this is life. You cannot plan for all eventualities. Things happen and sometimes, they are beyond our control.
Financial mistakes are many and for as long as you are alive, you will keep making them. The solution is to make sure the mistakes are few and not so big that they debilitate you. It is a wound that will heal not a tattoo. Give yourself time to heal. Do not let the wound fester.
And even if it is a tattoo, there is laser technology that can be used to remove it. Or get a great tattoo artist to cover the old one with a brilliant new tattoo that you can wear proudly.
Whether it is a financial failure or any other life experience you think is a failure, let it heal. Remeber it is a bruise, not a tattoo
