Scribbles cover the page, entire paragraphs crossed out and written again, and piles of thrown out drafts lie crumbled on my bedroom floor. Everything I attempt to write doesn’t live up to expectations. Luckily I can write draft after draft—hammering out mistakes until it nears perfection.

On one of the rare occasions when my mind isn’t rambling through countless concepts—no new story plots fluttering, no inquiries bouncing, and no ideas blinking—my mom turned to me as said, “Do you learn more from your successes or your mistakes?”

She sparked frenzy in my unusually calm head. But before I had time to formulate a clear, concise answer, my mouth blurted one out.

“Mistakes.”

My mom smiled. Clearly my answer was the one she wanted. Of course the question didn’t end there. “Why?”

My bliss of an empty mind was short lived. I formed the jumbled mess of words carefully in my head. Finally, I said, “When I succeed, I fall into a trap of accomplishing a task the same way. But, when I fail, I am forced to be innovative the next time. I’m forced to learn.” I paused a moment to reflect. “To improve.”

She smiled, dropped the question, and we continued our errands. But naturally, my mind couldn’t resist toying with the idea for the rest of the afternoon. I relived several past mistakes, analyzing where I went wrong, and accessing how it made me a better person. My mom’s seemingly random question sparked a personal epiphany.

After a fall, it is difficult to see the good—in some cases impossible to find any good at all. I, on the other hand, appreciate my mistakes. They force me to improve. And in the end, that is what matters.

This isn’t my first draft; my first draft was riddled with mistakes. However, with each draft the writing got a little bit better. This final copy will not be perfect—there will still be mistakes—but I will learn from them. I continue to hammer through the mistakes, I am constantly editing.