I told a friend that I loved her when she was dating someone else. She took it badly and she needed to hurt me; and she did, bad.

Sure. Being human has nothing to do with IQ. I’m a very bright woman, tested gifted as a kid but sometimes I am completely clueless in the moment. It happens, don’t worry about it. Depending on circumstance and ones cognitive processes, well…ya can’t be at the top of your game all the time even if you are at the top of the IQ scale.

Has this happened to you?
You might be a perfectly rational / intelligent person…

Nope. That’s never happened to me.
Back in the day, I was obsessed with never making a mistake at work. One year, I made 3, and I really beat myself up over it.
Now days, following open heart surgery that caused slight brain damage, so that I have a hard time holding and expressing a thought, I fully expect and accept that I do occasionally folly.
What were we talking about?

@imrainmaker I am reminded that “we wouldn’t worry so much about what other people think of us if we only knew how seldom they did”.

When I make a mistake (and I do) I admit it and apologize if necessary, as soon as I become aware of it.

Of course. I’m human. I’ve said silly things and done silly things on many occasions. When it happens, if I notice then and there I will decide whether to say anything or not. It depends on who the audience is. Sometimes it’s better to acknowledge my idiocy and laugh it off. Sometimes it’s better to forget it and let it go.

If I realised a while later, I would go through a similar analytical process to decide whether to acknowledge my error. Does it matter or is only my ego at risk of being hurt? If it’s just my ego, I’d most likely let it go unless an opportunity arose for me to say “oh remember when I said… last week… I thought about it later and I’m a numbskull etc”. If I feel the error matters, I’d raise it and admit my error.

We all make mistakes. “To err is human, to forgive, divine”. Sometimes we need to remember to forgive ourselves for our errors and not to take ourselves too seriously.

@Earthbound_Misfit Well said.

I have a bit of an offbeat sense of humor and this is the area that is most likely to trip me up. I toss out, what I consider, a humorous quip/observation and some, who are rather overly serious and pedantic just look bewildered. Last week my employer gave me a little book called “642 things to write about.” A very thought provoking little book that poses some really interesting questions and scenarios and how one would respond to such.

I thumbed through it and exclaimed ” Thank You, what a great little book, I can see someone finding this after I die and thinking ” Wow, I never knew she felt that way about that!” lol
She said nothing.
Oh well…it’s true, it would be like finding someones diary. lol

I believe it happens to everyone. But the thing is, people can judge you as a whole based on that one silly act. Some people just can’t see the whole picture, or can only focus on the negative. I can understand such thinking from strangers, but I’m annoyed when people I know do the same. It is as if they don’t remember they did err too.

What if the same mistakes are repeated by the person?

@imrainmaker I’m guessing that something very specific happened to you. It might be easier for us to help you if you tell us (even in generalities, and you can make up the names if other people are involved) what happened.

Otherwise, everyone is going to tell you, and it’s true, that we all make mistakes occasionally.

Nothing specific but in general I’m good at handling professional assignments / tasks with ease but when it comes to personal stuff it becomes tricky part. Haven’t been able to handle it the way it should have been which becomes more frustrating when you know you should be able to based on your abilities. I know these are two separate things, but you would like to be good on both fronts right?

There are so many variances within your question really. There’s no simple response.

I think dealing with personal issues is quite different to professional situations @imrainmaker. It might have nothing to do with your competence and everything to do with the personal nature of the relationships involved. We tend to put up with more bad behaviour from those we love and care about, and it can be harder to be firm and hold people to account. And frankly, those who know us best can sometimes be our worst critics (apart from ourselves of course). So on one hand we can let people get away with too much, and on the other hand, people who know us very well may not hold back in telling us we stuffed up.

On the flipside, messing up and making a fool of ourselves professionally can have a greater affect on our reputations. We are also likely to face criticism because people are in a competitive situation. Yet at times people in a professional situation are less invested in our faux pas, and may let things slide OR if it works in their favour they may amplify a small mistake to suit their own needs.

However, I still think what I said further up applies. We all stuff up personally and professionally and in either situation we need to evaluate whether we really need to do anything about it or just accept everyone stuffs up. I hope this isn’t something that’s particularly bothering you @imrainmaker.

We’re humans, we all make mistakes. It’s happened to me so many times, up to the point where I literally could not sleep thinking about the mistake and how embarrassing it was. But, truth is, we’re overthinking it and no one really cares. It’s not a big deal.

^^ yeah I agree..and it doesn’t help much either..