Recently, I faced the tough realization that mistakes from your past follow you forever. I hadn't done something morally wrong or illegal, but a insignificant oversight caused me to come to this conclusion. Looking back, my mistake was small, but I still see the consequences in my everyday life.

I didn't do anything crazy; instead, I was just careless. All I did was jokingly dance on small, rectangular, foam blocks with a friend. These blocks were unsteady, but we had fun trying to balance on them in dance and yoga poses. As we mastered each side of the blocks, we turned them to a taller side, making our balancing task even harder. Obviously, this doesn't seem like a mistake; it was more of a goofy pastime while we were beyond bored. The mistake was letting the block get too high and too unsteady, resulting in me falling and catching myself with my left hand. In bracing my fall, I fractured my wrist. This might not seem super significant, but I knew right away that something was wrong. I spent weeks in a split, cast and brace, blaming myself for being stupid and letting myself fall that way.

Even now, over two months later, I still experience tendonitis in my left arm. I cannot open a door with my left arm without feeling a shot of pain rush up my arm or grip my thumb in a fist in the same way as I can with my right hand. It has just become a part of me, an annoying little quirk I’ve gotten used to.

My hand is improving though, —for the first week post-cast, I couldn't even move my wrist— but every single time I feel pain, I am reminded how preventable the injury was. I’m not saying that I wish I hadn’t had fun that day, but I do wish I had been more careful.

My hand injury is just a personal experience that I can relate to the idea of mistakes following me, but I know many other people make daily choices that put their lives in danger. People that chose to text while driving, or drink and drive, put not only themselves in danger, but others too. I couldn't have really hurt with my careless game, but I still injured myself.

This small moment, taught me to be careful and to think more about consequences for every action. My sophomore history teacher told us “hindsight is 20/20” in the context of the two world wars, but I’ve realized this does apply to everything. I would not necessarily change anything I did if I was back in the position I was in over two months ago, because I could not know that my fun could cause me future pain, but seeing the result, I wish I hadn’t been so careless.