With it being the last day of the year, I get that it's difficult to resist looking back on the year that was and reflect on this, that or the other. I feel like whenever this time of year rolls around, our own worst critic kind of intensifies and it's easy to fall into that trap of focusing on mistakes made or opportunities passed by. Life experience has taught me that mistakes happen because, after all, we're human which means that fallibility shouldn't be a surprise but an expectation. When problematic cognitive distortions born out of mistakes start to seep into a someone's confidence, self-esteem or day-to-day functioning, it's on its way to being personalized and should be looked at more closely.

Daniel the Tiger, a recurring character from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, does a good job of showing how it can feel like the mistake and the person are one instead of two separate things. I watched this over the break and I'm not ashamed to say that I got emotional from Daniel and Lady Aberlin's back and forth. For anyone who needs it, I've attached a link below that'll take you to the song about mistakes. Thank you for reading and I look forward to speaking with you soon!

https://www.pbs.org/video/mister-rogers-neighborhood-lady-aberlin-and-daniel-tiger-talk-and-sing-about-mistakes/