Thankful for mistakes
It has been approximately one year since the passing of my dad. I have spent this past year thinking a lot more about him in ways I had never imagined I would. At first, I found myself struggling to see anything outstanding and amazing that he had done in his lifetime. As a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), my dad started his own audit firm that ultimately had around 40 employees. He had done reasonably well financially and was active in civic activities through charity organizations, but didn't otherwise show a lot of outsized accomplishments. Over time, I found myself fixated on a lot of the mistakes that he made. I felt badly that I seemed to be focused on the negative aspects, but what I learned was that his mistakes were the ones that taught me the most important lessons in life. I realized something truly amazing: that we can all literally make a ton of mistakes in life because the value we bring not only to ourselves (as long as we learn from them!) but also to those ar