We all make mistakes.
Some are bigger than others.
Some errors are massive, having profound ramifications that impact the rest of our lives while others have more limited consequences.
Turns out, though, that not all mistakes are the end of the world—some are the beginning of something fantastic.
Redditor HypnoViber pointed out this phenomenon when they asked:
“What is a mistake you have made that actually made something better?”
Sometimes, a good hard hit really is the answer.
“Accidentally backed into a pole at night in my mother’s Taurus.”
“Low speed, no damage, but it was dead center, so in between the reverse lights, I didn’t see it.”
“However, the trunk latch was never sticky again, worked fine after.” ~Speedy-McLeadfoot
Other times, the wrong turn is the right one.
“I work in television.”
“A few years ago I was a background PA (I help set Extras in a TV show and give them their actions).”
“Anyways the scene taking place was that the main character was being checked by a doctor in an office with the door open (weird but I don’t make those decisions).”
“I sent an extra down that hallway and told him to go inside the office to the right – the one across from where the scene was happening.”
“I guess this guy didn’t hear me correctly but during the scene he went into the office where the scene was happening, upon realizing his mistake he played along as if he were part of the scene and gave them an: ‘Oops!’ “
“And the actors reacted to him, making the scene funnier.”
“My boss was quick to yell at me but the director came out and asked who made the decision because it was awesome!”
“Of course my boss stopped yelling.”
“They decided to upgrade the extra and add his line.”
“The man went from getting paid $125 a day to making a bit more than $1k for saying the word Oops!”
“The guy thanked me profusely because he was in desperate need of money and this was going to help him with rent.”
“All throughout the day, he thanked me.”
“My mistake made someone so happy. It made my day.”~SuitableCamel6129
Mistakes, the spice of life!
“I misread a chili recipe that called for tamari (a type of soy sauce) and put tahini (sesame seed paste).”
“It was creamy and delicious!”
“I realized my mistake the next time I made it, but to this day I still put tahini in it.”~HarrisonRyeGraham
More fantastic food flubs.
“I was making a Moussaka recipe, this one was like… think lasagna, but Greek with slices of eggplant instead of layers of noodles.”
“Trying to help me, for some reason my SO diced the eggplant.”
“We said: ‘F*ck it.’ and continued making what turned out to be more of a Moussaka-like casserole.”
“OMFG it was good!”
“So that’s how we make it.”
“Not filling between layers of eggplant slices, we make it casserole-style.”
“Never even tried to follow the recipe again correctly.”~Sniffs_Markers
The error that keeps on giving.
“I approached a dude in high school thinking he was someone else I met the other day.”
“(I was new to this school and still learning who people were).”
“I didn’t realize this until days later when he told me.”
“However we became best friends.”
“He eventually introduced me to my future wife who I now have a family with.”
“A simple case of mistaken identity shaped my whole life.”~Actuaryba
Many responses were surprisingly self-aware.
I got into a drunken street fight a long time ago and ended up getting arrested.”
“I beat one guy up and then pulled a knife on another guy he was with when he tried to intervene.”
“I actually didn’t think it was a big deal after the fight ended as I felt that I had won and just proceeded to walk home.”
“Next thing you know 10 cop cars surrounded me and I was in handcuffs sitting in the back of a police car.”
“It was 100% my fault.”
“I went to a lawyer who said he would help me with the criminal case that came with what I had done, but I had to go to AA.”
“I told him that I didn’t remember much from the previous evening and he explained that I had experienced an ‘alcoholic blackout’ and that I was so inebriated that I stopped recording memories and couldn’t control my behavior.”
“He said that I was an alcoholic and he sees it all the time in clients that come to him for help after drinking and doing something stupid.”
“If this hadn’t happened I probably would have still been drinking every single day and continuing down the path of ruining my life.”
“I ended up going to 50+ AA meetings which gave me a chance to reevaluate my life and have been sober ever since.”~reaverdude
Not all mistakes are life-altering, some just save the day.
“Didn’t mute myself in an online meeting by accident.”
“Told a joke to my friend and because people from the online meeting heard it, they of course laughed and after the meeting one of the participants told me she was having a very hard time because of her depression and that I lifted her mood up.”
“Sh*t was pleasant, ngl”~wriggly_jiggled22
Always read the fine print.
“In my 20s, when I was unemployed and almost broke, I got a great job offer and was so stoked that I said yes before reading the whole offer letter.”
“A few days later I realized the position they gave me wasn’t at the local office where I had interviewed but was on the other side of the country.”
“Oops.”
“I went for it anyway and it turned out to be a wonderful move.”
“I started life over from scratch, had a ton of fun exploring a new place, made some great friends, and met my wife.”~SagebrushBiker
The wrong note just sounds better.
“As a musician, I have to say it’s every instance of ‘I keep playing this riff I wrote wrong so that’s how it’s played now’.” ~thrashingkaiju
That’s one way to quit?
“I ashed a cigarette in a glass that had a drink in it (don’t ask me why).”
“I accidentally picked it up and took the biggest swig of what I thought was my scotch- I projectile vomited, and never touched another cigarette”~Muriana_of
We all make mistakes.
We run from them, we shun them and we try our hardest to deny them but sometimes what we think of as a misstep is actually a step in the right direction.
Sometimes, our mistakes make us.