Keep Trudging

No one is perfect. Mistakes are inevitable. Regrettable choices will happen. When you do something stupid, you have to walk through it. The mud of your mistakes will pile up. Sometimes that mud can have you wading in sludge that is neck deep. You have to trudge through it. Your only options are to keep trudging through the mud or to stop and wallow in it.

A lot of people stop and do not make it through. These people cannot accept what they have done. They cannot move on from the mistakes they have made. They wallow in self-pity and regret. They give up control of their lives.

The people that keep going, eventually make it out. Once you make it out, you emerge from the depths of the mud. You get out of the sludge and are no longer trudging along. You are back on solid ground and back to normal walking. But you are not in the clear when you make it out of this mud. When you finally make it out, everyone around you is looking at you and judging you. Other people think it is shameful what you have done before. They laugh and jeer as you emerge from the mud because you are covered in it. You are covered in the mud of your past decisions. This presents you with another set of options. You can either go and hide in the corner or accept the mud that is covering you.

Most people will go and hide in the corner because of their past mistakes. These people lose the courage to do what has to be done to continue to progress through life. They give into the judgment of others and are unable to continue actively living life. They let self-pity and judgment of their past decisions control them. No one remembers the person who makes a mistake and sits in the corner unable to live their lives.

The other option is to walk through the crap, to walk through the mud, and to come out the other side. Once you finally emerge, you realize and accept that everyone else is laughing at you and judging you. When you accept their judgment, you look them in the eyes and acknowledge that you are covered in the mud, your mud, your mud from your decisions. In this acceptance, you let others know they are right, but that they will not hold you back. You may be covered in your mud, but you will keep going.

The mud from your past decisions and actions will eventually wash off. You will eventually be clean and removed from the mud painted on you. If you keep going, you will find new opportunities to be good again, succeed, and elevate again. The paradox of trudging through mud is other people will forget your mistakes until you become successful in spite of your mistakes. They want you to remain covered in shame over your mud. They try to reel you back into the bucket where you feel personal shame over your prior actions and decisions. They don’t want to see your acceptance over your mud and moving on to new things. The mud will be there, accept your mud and keep living your life. Keep trudging.