Mistakes, Forgiveness and Moving On

We all make mistakes. And yeah, those regrets last, well, a lifetime!

A few days ago, I watched the video showing Anjali, the doctor of Uber fame, destroying her future, albeit without knowing it. Today I watched her apologizing and owning up to her mistake. I know that the world will forget her soon. The Uber driver will forget what she did, over time. But will she ever forget? Probably not. But the worst of it will be if she doesn't forgive herself.

All of us make mistakes. Sometimes we repeat them. Many times we plan to change but we become victims to circumstances such as high self-expectations, low (er) self-esteem, desires, the need to show-off, and the list goes on and on.

But eventually at some point, there's a trigger that makes us stop fooling the world, and even more importantly, stop fooling ourselves. At that point, ownership of our mistakes is important.

And then comes the hard part, forgiving ourselves. The forgiveness is necessary, to move forward, to heal ourselves, and to heal others who suffered when we were being stupid.

Anjali Ramkissoon is not the first person who got drunk and did stupid things. And she won't be the last. I hope she will be reprimanded, asked to do community service, and reinstated at the hospital. Not allowing her to become a doctor and fulfill her destiny is too steep a price to pay for her one bad decision of drinking and throwing her weight around.

This blog is for all those people, young and old, who have done stupid things while drunk, and now find themselves unable to forgive themselves, playing catch-up. Let it go. God forgives you. Your family forgives you. Now you need to forgive YOURSELF!!!