Take Chances, Make Mistakes, Get Messy

(Originally posted 24 March 2015.)

When I was a new parent, I gave myself permission to see the world in a fresh way. When our 3-year-old spilled the box of 100 Band-Aids, I took ridiculous delight in counting the scattered Band-Aids and sorting them into piles by shape and size.

Some of us are tenacious life-long learners. Driven by fearless curiosity, we choose to see the familiar in new ways. We hunger to uncover and discover anything and everything. We ask a zillion questions. Not everyone feels comfortable asking questions. Some folks don’t want others to know that they don’t know something.

My clients often express the shame of not knowing. They may share an embarrassing work experience, or admit they did not know mothering would be so hard. Many feel they are navigating life without a road map or a working GPS.

I tell them about the PBS show The Magic School Bus and Ms. Frizzle’s repeated mantra: In order to learn you need to “Take chances, make mistakes, get messy.”