9. The Weight of Who I Was: Living Beyond My Mistakes

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Throughout my adult life, I’ve made mistakes—some small, some colossal.
Some I’ve been able to correct.
Others? I just have to carry.

But no matter the size or the outcome, every mistake has carried a lesson. Even if it took years, even if the realisation only hit after the dust settled—each one shaped me. Grew me. Humbled me.

But here’s what really feeds my anxiety:
It’s not the mistake itself.
It’s the people who won’t let me forget it.

The ones who hold your past like a weapon.
Who bring up your failures like a chant—never letting them rest, never letting you prove you’ve grown, never accepting that change is possible.

I hate that feeling.
I hate being judged for a version of myself that no longer exists.
I hate being reduced to a moment, when I’ve done the work to evolve well beyond it.

The truth is, we’ve all messed up. But what defines us isn’t just what we did—it’s what we do next.

All I ask is the chance to show that I’ve changed.
That I’ve learned.
That I’m not my worst mistake.

And if that’s too much to ask? Then maybe it’s not me who’s stuck in the past.