I don’t like to think of myself as an idiot. Not that I don’t make mistakes. I try to keep track of the type of words I use.
I make lots of mistakes. I think a way to improve the phrase “Everyone makes mistakes” would be “Everyone makes lots of mistakes all the time.” We do. The phrase “I’m only human” doesn’t completely give us the leeway we want, because humans do incredible things and they often look more flawless from the outside.
So, instead of the self-talk of calling myself a dumb dumb or saying that something I did was a stupid mistake… I call myself a dingle. I am not special. Everyone’s a dingle. I can call other people dingles too. Instead of an insult, or a method of shaming, this is a method of forgiveness. We need lots of forgiveness. We’re all flawed and vulnerable and most of the time not conscious of our actions. That’s okay. We’re dingles in a long line of dingles and we’ll be okay.
Why did that person cut me off? They’re a dingle. Why did I leave the faucet on? I’m a dingle. Why did my dentist forget my birthday? dingle.