Why Being Wrong is Progress - episode 312
If you are like me, you don’t like to be wrong.
I’m not sure exactly where it comes from, okay I do know my family of origin takes pride in being right, and stronger than that, my desire to excel gets in my own way to risk and to try. I want to be good at everything I do. But is that necessary? No, and it’s not helpful either. Being wrong is a critical part of growth and I do want to experience things, even the things I’m not good at.
Are you willing to try things even if you want be great at them in the beginning?
Can you use some more information to make decision?
Do you put pressure on yourself to make the right decision?
Do you know you’ll be okay even when you get it wrong?
What if God is directing you to a new path - will you trust his invitation?
We are looking at 5 reasons why being wrong is progress.
Lose the fear of being wrong. It’s better for you.
— After years of thinking I couldn’t travel, here we are in Israel. I was wrong.
It’s Rather Remarkable
Thoughts from Why Being Wrong is Progress
Sometimes it’s the best possible outcome to be wrong. Think about the times in your life that didn’t go the way you hoped they would. And then you look back in hindsight (that’s a gift because sometimes you will never know), you see that things actually worked out far better than you could have planned yourself.
It’s rather remarkable. Of course I contribute that to how God works things for good for those who love him and for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).
What is required of you to figure out if something is wrong or not? Not necessarily in the moral sense but in the decision-making sense. Sometimes there is an overlap. Here are a few ideas:
Listening to your gut - this can be overshadowed by your fear, so you’ll need to weigh that out
Taking messy action - clarity and confidence are gained through motion, you’ll gain info that will guide you
Trusting God - it takes discernment to in the doors he’s opening and closing
Waiting - another name for patience, this one is hard because we want to get fast results and we don’t know how it will go
I’m thinking of a time when all four of these came into play in my life. As a young girl (like so many others) I pictured having kids. For my 31st birthday we were celebrating at a fun restaurant, and I met this young girl who was celebrating her birthday too. I was struck by how sweet she was and how she looked like we could have come from the same gene pool. Her name was Whitney. Isn’t it something that I can quickly recall that today many years later? It made that kind of an impression. We ended up taking a picture together.
Now I already had a small child. A boy. He was, and is, the sunshine of my life. (I sang that Stevie Wonder song to him as a small child.) I was hoping to one day have a girl too. I listened to my gut and didn’t give up. I had a couple of relationships but they didn’t result in more children. Clarity and courage came in small steps along the way. I kept trusting God and I waited. It wouldn’t be until 11 years later after meeting Whitney that night of our birthday that I would have a daughter.
Sometimes things take time. Sometimes we are wrong about how we’re going to get there. Thank God. He knows best.
Whitney and me on our birthdays at Corvette Diner
— A peek into things to come
