Well That’s Embarrassing

Everyone makes mistakes in life, and anyone that hasn’t either is lying or isn’t human. To be human is to make mistakes. Mistakes can range from dangerous, to embarrassing, and sometimes funny. Of course, the embarrassing ones are usually funny for others. Mistakes are good and help us learn, admitting to a mistake is the first step to learning. I’m gonna tell an embarrassing story of making a mistake. 

Checking my email I received the most dreaded thing a student could see a “come see me” message from a teacher. Dread filled me as my stomach dropped, I’ve made a terrible mistake. I didn’t follow the prompt properly and did so poorly it couldn’t be fixed with a simple word change or adding a paragraph. Looking back it seems like a bad idea, a horror story barely fitting the prompt. As I wrote more normal things for new prompts I realized that perhaps the first thing I wrote might be an issue. Checking emails before this seemed trivial but now there was extra care to double-check things.

Thinking back about the three prompts I should’ve just gone with the more concrete prompt. I foolishly mistook the writing prompt as a creative writing prompt. Most likely a horror story is best saved for a hobby over a high school English class. I realized far too late, as it’s a lot easier to think back on mistakes over thinking in the moment. Late in the night when I originally wrote it seemed like a good idea. Lack of sleep tends to make a lot of dumb things seem like a better idea, 

Whenever writing something for school make sure you understand what is required of you and that you’ve gotten enough sleep to have the critical thinking skills to understand what you’re doing. If you’re like me and sitting at a computer when it’s late and think you’ve come up with the best idea ever, stop for a moment. Write your idea and wait until morning and see if it’s actually good or if you were just delirious. As a student don’t be afraid to ask for clarification as looking silly sooner is better than looking like you submitted the wrong file way down the line. As a student, I will always make sure to read the prompt thoroughly and be well rested before future writing.

Photo by Ivan Aleksic on Unsplash