This morning,
I sat by the window
at my favorite café.
The rain had finally stopped.
The sky was clear,
and a cool breeze
drifted in.
While organizing ideas
for future posts,
I came across
an old note.
I smiled.
Five months ago,
I had written:
Live without a single mistake.
I showed it
to my daughter.
“I actually wrote this,”
I said, laughing.
She smiled.
“You’ve really moved away
from perfectionism.”
“I’m glad,”
she said.
I smiled again.
An Old Reminder
That note
had come from
a small mistake.
One day,
I missed my train.
I had been distracted,
lost in thought.
Instead of simply catching
the next one,
I blamed myself.
How could I let this happen?
Where was my mind?
I even wrote myself
a reminder.
Live without
a single mistake.
Back then,
I thought
the answer
was making fewer mistakes.
I didn’t realize
I was living
with a quiet fear
of making one.
What I Was Really Chasing
Looking back,
I wasn’t chasing perfection.
I was trying
not to get things wrong.
I wanted everything
to go smoothly.
Nothing forgotten.
Nothing delayed.
Nothing out of place.
If I made a mistake,
I didn’t just see
the mistake.
I quietly turned it
into a judgment
about myself.
Mid-point
I thought peace
would come
if I could stop
making mistakes.
A Different Response
A few days ago,
I missed another train.
I caught the next one.
When my husband
picked me up,
he asked,
“So you lost
the ticket?”
I smiled.
“It was refunded
right away.
I only lost
a few thousand won.”
That was all.
More recently,
I noticed
that one sentence
in a blog post
was bold,
instead of
bold italic.
I changed it.
Then I went on
with my day.
No frustration.
No self-criticism.
Just a small correction.
A Quiet Shift
Now,
I know
peace comes
from something else.
Mistakes
don’t have to become
stories,
judgments,
or proof
that something
is wrong with me.
A mistake doesn’t have to become
a story about me.
Sometimes,
it’s simply
something
to correct.
And then,
I move on.
