Blog 2: Mistakes Are A Fact Of Life

"Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to error that counts." Nikki Giovanni. We have all made mistakes, some are small and insignificant, while others will never be forgotten.  My blog is not necessarily about one particular moment in my life that portrayed me doing my best, but it was a few particular choices in the past few years of my life that helped me to become the “best” I could be. These were the moments where I learned from mistakes and began to understand who I am and what I want out of life.

              At the end of my sophomore year, I had a lot going for myself. Little by little I let all of that slip through my fingers though. By the end of summer my best friend and I had gotten ourselves into trouble with the law and life continued to get harder and harder as I tried to rebel against my mother. One month into school I had gotten myself into more trouble. This second offense was one that could have been avoided if I would have literally just lied and said that I had not done it. Who would have known that lying could benefit in a situation like that?! For these two offenses I would receive the consequences of community service, sitting out half of the football season for cheerleading, and was removed from the dance team. The fact that my mother was the coach for each of these teams, made everything worse.

              After establishing a rule contract that expressed all of the things I had to or could not do for three months a.k.a. being grounded plus a million other things, made my mother and I’s relationship very sour. Hanging out with friends or anything of that sort was not allowed, so to sum it up, I went to school, practices, and came straight home until school the next morning. A short time later, I grew tired and eventually gave into my mom and did everything she wanted. Gaining her trust back was all I wanted.

              Over that next year reality had struck me hard. Not only had I felt hostility from my mom but from my peers at school as well. My bad choices had taken over my life and they turned me into someone that I was not. Eventually, I grew tired of this treatment as well, and changed my ways. I made new friends around school and opened myself up to new experiences. From these mistakes I learned that doing something that will result in trouble is never worth what will be lost, not only when it comes to being involved and active but when it comes to other people’s attitudes toward myself. My mom’s trust is so important to me, and when I realized this, I did everything in my power to get it back.

              In conclusion, I feel that this story shows me at my best because of who I became after learning from my mistakes. Typically, dancers who have gotten kicked off the team are never allowed to try out again. Due to how I dealt with getting in trouble and how I continued to support the team truly showed that I learned from my mistakes, which allowed me to become a member of the team again my senior year. I found new friends who would not get me into trouble, and put a large amount of focus on the most important part of high school which were my grades and going to college. Luckily, I made it here!!! (: Some of us will make hundreds of mistakes but it is whether or not we learn our lesson after they have been made that counts!

-Kizzie Ryerson