For the past few weeks I had been planning on attending a yoga event in South Denver.  One of my favorite yoga teachers and mentors, Desiree Rumbaguh, was coming to town.  There was no way I was going to miss seeing her. I live in North Boulder so South Denver is a drive for me. I pulled up the directions on mapquest as I was running out the door. According to my reliable source, the studio was 45 minutes away. I looked at the time. 12:30pm. The event was not until 1:30pm. One hour. Perfect. I had plenty of time. As I got on the road, I realized only the first page of the directions had printed out. Great. I knew how to get out of my neighborhood and head on into Denver. What I really needed was the second page. I need to clarify this scenario for a second so you understand what goes on inside of my head when I get behind the wheel. Let’s just say it’s not good. I DO NOT do well with directions. Not sure what that's about but I’m actually going to admit, I'd rather hop a flight to New York and negotiate myself around the city, than get on a highway and try to figure out where I'm going in a town I call home. So here I am on US 36 driving 70 miles an hour without a clue. Do I hop on I25? I70? I had tried calling the studio and even emailing them before I left just to confirm I knew where I was going but they were not picking up. I was in the middle of living one of my biggest nightmares.   The 45 minute drive turned into an hour and a half. It was WAY farther than I had anticipated. I was already 30 minutes late. And judging by the traffic at 1pm, I had no figgin’ idea how I’d get home any earlier at 4pm during rush hour to pick up by little one from pre-school on time. I turned around and went home.  SO pissed at myself. I started beating myself down. Why didn’t I call the studio yesterday? Why didn’t I review the directions with my husband? He’s my navigation tool when I’m in a pinch. Why didn’t I look at the directions before I left the house? Why didn’t I give myself more driving time? Damn girl. I couldn’t let it go. I was on the verge of tears. This was my entire day.  Sitting on my butt in friggin' traffic driving around like a crazy person.   And the only person I could be pissed off at was myself. I made a mistake.  I had not prepared myself well enough. Check this out. Every single person on this planet makes mistakes. We are here to learn and mistakes are just part of our process. But I will lay cash down on the fact that so many of you beat yourself up over something silly like I did yesterday. Here’s the dealio. Who cares if I missed the event? I’ll catch Desiree this summer at the Wunderlust Festival in Copper Mountain and at the Omega Institute in Rhineback NY. And so what if I sat in the car all afternoon? I actually enjoyed being able to catch up, live in the flesh, with several of my associates in Connecticut, Chicago, NY and Houston that I normally am only able to communicate with via email or text message. What I’ve have come to learn is that character is not defined by the mistakes we make.  Character is what we do in the face of adversity. The lesson I learned yesterday is prepare the night before I go anywhere. And when I can learn from my mistakes and you can learn from your, we will not repeat them, right? Our mistakes will help us evolve and grow. And that, my friend, is the basis of life. Neil Gaiman couldn't have said it better, "If you are making mistakes you're out there doing something." Our mistakes show our humanity and humility. What mistakes have you made recently? And what have you learned from that incident? I'd love to hear from you. Please leave a comment in the box below. And if you found this blog useful, spread the love and share it with your friends. Post it via FB, Pinterest, or Twitter. XO, Hayley

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