How Do You Deal With Mistakes?

Have you ever said that you would do something and then never did it? It seems I have messed up a bit with respect to one of my commitments. It's not the end of the world. It's not a matter of sin and repentance. It's more a matter of "Whoops! Look what I didn't do. Now so and so will be upset". I try to be dependable and conscientious at all times (Can you spot the signs of budding perfectionism?) but letting people down is never fun. This can happen at Church, at work, at home or with friends. Our imperfections can weigh us down a bit. I think that I perform at a generally high level and I typically try my utmost to accommodate others so things generally have been working out fine in life. So how do you deal with it? Move on? Say sorry? Try to put it right? Try better next time? When you have my OCD profile it's simply not that straightforward. Here's how my brain deals with it: After a sick feeling in the stomach, I try to appeal desperately to Heavenly Father for help. This would generally be a good thing but I feel like it's the end of the world. I panic. I feel my temperature rising. I start to feel physical tension. I consider fasting and praying and consider bargaining with the Lord. "If I give up junk food will you bail me out this time?" Overall it feels like things cave in on me. Perspective has been lost and catastrophising (Is that really a word?) kicks in. Can you spot the compulsions? Now it is time for the cold light of day moment. Mistakes happen! How you deal with errors is a very personal thing. To me it's hard to rationalise and be calm. Not many on the outside looking in would be permitted to spot the issues. I will talk to my wife and my Father in Heaven about it, none else. With my OCD there is a definite slant towards perfectionism. Couple that with a chronic fear of man and life is one big party! Some good council from an LDS therapist went like this, "Be kind to yourself but don't be easy on yourself". At first I didn't get it but now I see that we should be kind enough to be gentle with ourselves (Not that I am disposed to ever let myself off the hook for anything). I feel that I can be soft enough to at least try not to hold on to issues. Not being easy on ourselves means that we shouldn't give ourselves permission to foul up in advance, perhaps believing that we deserve to go down some bad path. In real terms all of us need repentance. It's a simple soap for fallen man. Everyone needs it all the time. I'm not trying to minimise the processes of repentance and the Atonement but I am trying to be kind to myself. Anyway life continues to roll on. I will try to be nice to me and not hold on to the extra baggage. Until next time..........