"Tomorrow is fresh, with no mistakes in it."

Lately, I’ve found myself thinking about my everyday failures too much. You should know, I’m obsessed with to-do lists. I make a daily list of things I need to and want to get done on my white board and I take great pleasure in crossing things off of it. The problem is, my love for lists leaves a lot of room for me to think of myself as having failed when there are certain items I can’t cross off of it—and there are hardly ever days when I do cross every item off. Sometimes it’s the fun or silly things that are left undone: “Spend an hour pleasure reading”; “Catch up on Gossip Girl.” But sometimes it’s the big important things: “Write half of the big paper”; “Email so-and-so back”; “Spend a half hour reading the Bible”; “Exercise”.

Yes, lately I’ve been scolding myself for my many daily failures. And even if it’s just a thing or two left undone, I subconsciously write the entire day off as a failure.

You can see how this mental attitude isn’t helpful to my sanity or my self-esteem.

Luckily, I’ve become aware of this recent trend of “failure” thought and I’m working on remedying it. I’m trying to focus more on what I have accomplished and look at each new day positively as a chance to begin again.

And so my recent mantra is a quote from my *newly beloved Anne of Green Gables:

“Tomorrow is fresh, with no mistakes in it.” –Lucy Maud Montgomery

I absolutely love this. I’ve even written it at the top of my white board, where it remains right above my daily list as a reminder. Maybe I didn’t get everything checked off today, but I can start fresh tomorrow and try again. It’s not failure, it’s a new opportunity for a new day.

*I’ve fallen in love with Gilbert Blythe and left my heart in Green Gables. I read Anne of Green Gables for the first time over Winter Break and then followed up by watching the movie versions of both Anne of Green Gables and its sequel (Megan Follows/Jonathan Crombie version!) over Spring Break. I now realize that my childhood was entirely lacking without Anne Shirley in it. However, I’ve now remedied the situation and am glad to have these stories in my life. Oh, how I swooned over Jonathan Crombie’s portrayal of Gilbert Blythe. Oh, how my heart beat waiting for Anne to realize her love for Gilbert. Yes, these are stories I will definitely treasure from here on out and will share with daughters (if I have any). *Happy Sigh*

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