October 23, 2025- No excuses

The essence of immorality is the tendency to make an exception of myself.

~Jane Addams

Explanations and excuses are not the same thing. We can have an explanation for why we were led to a bad choice without excusing ourselves from having made it. If the best version of us would have done differently, why didn’t we? That question is not rhetorical; sorting through the why can lead us to the what.

We are not going to be models of perfection. We will make mistakes. When we do, are we going to spend our time and energy trying to shield ourselves from accountability, or will we use it to engineer a better choice in the future? Excuses will not undo what is already done. Changing our story will not change history. But if we practice honest reflection and plan how to do it better in the future, we will limit the impact of our mistakes.

If we comb through our own personal history, we will come across glimpses of our best and of our worst. If we reflect on what we did to expose both of them, we can expose the best of ourselves more often in the future. Making excuses for a why the worst of us has shown up will not help us to be any better in the future.

Own both your success and your failure. Exercise discipline and grace to become just a bit better, each day.