I was deep in the weeds of client calls last Wednesday, when a mysterious man called me with severe urgency telling me that “my electricity was going to be turned off if I did not pay my bill within the next 20 minutes.”

I was so embarrassed with myself that I had forgotten to pay my electrical bill that I just about gave this man anything he wanted.

And, despite there being multiple red flags during the phone call, I silenced my gut feeling and just gave him what he wanted.

Over a 22 minute phone call, I wired him over $1,600. And, if it wasn’t for my husband texting me that the bill had been paid, I have no idea what else I would have offered up….

“To recover from a mistake, forgive yourself for not acting in your best interest (consciously or unconsciously).”

— Nedra Tawwab, Licensed Therapist

By the time my husband’s text got to me, there was no turning back. Fast forward a few hours, and turns out I will never see that $1,600 again. I was immediately crushed, confused, and so frustrated with myself for falling for this scam! How could I have done this?! I pride myself on being an educated, confident, and self-assured woman. How in the world did I fall for this scam?! Well, turns out, it does not matter who you are or how fancy your credentials (and ego!) are, no one is safe from making mistakes.

WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES, IT IS AN INEVITABLE PART OF BEING HUMAN.

The #1 lesson in all of this is: turn your mistakes into life lessons. The only way to move on is to accept what happened, and follow a few steps:

Own It. The more you fully believe that you did something wrong, the more likely you will take ownership of the problem and take steps to resolve the issues.
Say it out loud. “I made a mistake, but I am still alive.” Positive affirmations allow you to take ownership of the issue, and assure yourself that there is still more life to live.
Forgive yourself. Throw yourself a bone, friend. You are human. Again, we are not robots – we are humans with hundreds of different thoughts, feelings, and emotions going on at once. Don’t beat yourself up over making a mistake, that won’t help you (or anyone) move forward.
Ask yourself: What else is going on in my life for me to have made this mistake? I have a lot on my plate the last 2-3 months. I was in a fog last week because of some bad news we received from my doctor. I realize I was not being my BEST self during this entire experience.
Learn from it. Making a mistake is one thing, but letting it happen again and again is completely different. Being aware and conscious moving forward is critical to preventing a mistake.
Talk about it & Teach it. I am sharing in this blog today about my $1600 scam, so it never happens to you! I’ve been told to never answer a call to an unknown number, but now I hope you learn from my mistake, and NEVER answer a number you don’t know.
Be aware. Moving forward, I have my radars more open. I won’t be answering any calls from random numbers, and I will never be using the Zelle app with someone I do not know. Plain & simple.

Moving on from a Mistake

I was deep in the weeds of client calls last Wednesday, when a mysterious man called me with severe urgency telling me that “my electricity was going to be turned off if I did not pay my bill within the next 20 minutes.”

WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES, IT IS AN INEVITABLE PART OF BEING HUMAN.

The #1 lesson in all of this is: turn your mistakes into life lessons. The only way to move on is to accept what happened, and follow a few steps:

Moral of the story: We all mistakes.

We won’t get it right every time.

We might not always make the best choice.

We might give money to strangers (or criminals) on accident.

We might say something that we don’t mean.

My biggest takeaway from this mistake is this:

Life is always teaching us lessons.

BE OPEN TO RECEIVING THE LESSON, AND FORGIVING YOURSELF IN THE MEANTIME.