My Favorite Mistake

It was not a typical Friday afternoon for two reasons: I was extremely hyper, and I didn’t have a westlake football game to go to so that I could burn my extra energy off.

After school, I got off the bus and was walking down my driveway looking for something to do when I thought about how cool it would be if I could be the most athletic person in the world, and how cool it would look if I could run, jump off the curb and do a frontflip, and land in the grass. First I thought, I needed some training. So, me being so smart and athletic went and looked up probably the worst How To: Parkour video. I randomly skimmed through it and watched a lot of cool backflips and people jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Apparently I missed the part where it said to practice the basics with the help of other people, but out to the driveway I went.

I started to run and focus in on the curb. Next I was extending my foot to the cement. Now, I was at the point of no return with my back parallel to the ground. I had jumped half-heartedly and I quickly realized that I wasn’t going to make it back on my feet.

Now I seemed to be falling in slow-motion, and tensing up for the moment I would hit the ground.

I was 8 inches away…now 6…now 3…thud. The pain was instant. It was like an uncontrollable wildfire, dancing around in my back, and even daring to burn through my neck. All I could do was lay there. Waiting, with my eyes jammed shut, wishing that someone could put the fire out.

Even though nobody was around, I was more embarrassed than I had ever been in my life. Had I really thought that I was good enough to make the flip? Had I really thought that I was good enough to make a cool move without any practice at all? Had I really thought that I was good enough to completely blow off the instruction video, but still come out fine?! Apparently, I had.

I laid there for maybe eight minutes before I built up the strength to sit up. Surprisingly it wasn’t that difficult. What was difficult though, was trying to stand and walk. I managed to make it back inside my house, and play video games and pretend line nothing was wrong.

Even still, I read every single word in the instructions on every test, quiz, or homework, because I almost broke my back or neck when I didn’t follow the directions. The reason this is my favorite mistake is because every time there is a need to follow directions, that moment replays in my mind. I know the consequences can be extreme, so it keeps me from making the same mistake in the future.