Quote by Confucius

Each of us every day make mistakes and it is our responsibility to get back up and learn from them.

When we are learning we are bound to make mistakes. Be gentle with yourself, but learn from it, grow from it.

In our work to be better allies to the different communities, we are going to mess up, we are going to get uncomfortable feedback. That is okay, don’t let it stop you.

As you work to be a better friend, a better partner, a better teacher, a better healer, you will mess up as well. It is important for others to see that we can own our mistakes and use them to do better next time. This acknowledgement of a mistake, an apology, and then changed behavior is what most folks need from us.

I work hard to be a good ally to the transgender community in general, and to my trans clients in particular. But this does not mean that I have not slipped and used an incorrect pronoun. Being an ally to a person or a group is a never-ending process, not a destination.

Just as healing is a process and not a destination. There may be set backs, a relapse, a meltdown, but that does not have to negate the progress and that does not mean you are not still healing and growing. It is all about picking yourself up one more time and moving forward.