Learn From Your Mistakes

People make mistakes. This is a basic human quality that allows us to progress, even though some of the errors we make are way more serious than others. In Bulgarian, there is a famous saying: “Да ти бъде обеца на ухото!”, which roughly translates that once a person makes an error, he will not repeat it intentionally. Most of the times, people get easily annoyed by making mistakes, as we strive towards perfection. Everyone wants to be able to say that they do not regret any of their actions; however, this is rarely possible because life experience is gained by trying, failing, and trying again. The mistakes people usually tend to regret the most are the ones that have affected not only themselves, but other people they care for too. The simple reasoning behind that fact is that once a person takes a decision that affects others, most of the times they do not realize all of the consequences of their action and how others will be affected. Also, we cannot predict how people are going to react, which limits our ability to take actions on behalf of others. Furthermore, adults are way more mature than children, as they have had a lot of time to fail. This explains why one of my decisions that I regret the most happened when I was just thirteen years old.

During the summer of 2015, my sister got invited to be one of the teachers at a summer camp for computer science. As soon as my sister asked me whether I wanted to go with her, I said yes. It was located on the seashore, which for me, compensated that I have to actually study during the summer. Additionally, I was really interested in computer science, as I was a big fan of video games, and wanted to have the opportunity to make games of my own. My mother was not as forward-looking as I was. She was worried, and even though I still cannot understand why, I believe that she was just anxious because it would be my first camp without my parents. I assured her that everything will be alright and that I have my “old” seventeen-year-old sister to take care of me. After approximately a thousand times in which I repeated the words “Please Mom!”, she agreed to let me go. However, she had one condition. I had to call her every night, so that she could sleep calmly, without having to worry whether I am alright. She even bought me a new phone, because she knew that I will be really into it, and I will spend a lot of time playing on it, which would increase the chances of me actually remembering to call her. It was like a dream come true for me.

As soon as we arrived in Sozopol, I made a ton of friends. Even though it was a camp that was designed for us to study, I was having so much fun. I even created my own first game. It really looked like Flappy Bird, but it was my creation. However, as a really responsible early teen, and combined with the fact that I was constantly with my friends, I forgot to call my mom. My sister was constantly reminding me to call her, but every time I said I will do it in the evening. The first three days of a nine-day camp had passed, and I had not called my mother even once. As soon as I got that realization, I called her immediately. To my surprise, she was not mad at me, but rather happy to hear me and that I am having so much fun. Deep down in my consciousness, I knew that I had caused her a lot of anxiety, but she refused to admit it. This provoked me to learn from my mistake. Until the end of the camp, I called her every night, and this improvement that I made, allowed me to go to the same camp next year. I learned that even though we believe that we know everything when we are thirteen, and that we can survive on our own, it is always better to follow our parents’ advice as they are so much more experienced than us. Also, it will not cause them any additional stress, and they will continue to allow us to go to different fun events.

Before writing this paper, I called my mother. In fact, since I came to America, I have been calling her at least four times a week. I guess that, after all, my camp experiences taught me a lot about how our decisions affect others. As we like to say in Bulgarian, “Да ми бъде обица на ухото.”