Recently I made the scariest and toughest decision and that was to go through brain surgery. Everything was a success and I'm healing just fine with no complications. Since the surgery I've had alot of time alone because of recovering. I've been thinking to myself and I want my life to be different from now on. I look back on my life and I don't want to make the same mistakes anymore especially in my future relationships.

So what is the best way to ensure I've learned from my bad mistakes? Should I sit down and write down all my mistakes and then in response I should point out what I did wrong and what I could have done differently? Its not like I'm dwelling on my mistakes I just want to make sure I've learned from them and actively understand that I dont want to make those same mistakes again.

I find myself always making excuses for the men I date and I know that is something I no longer will do. I read a great quote:

" When people show you who they are, believe them the first time."

This quote can be taken either way but looking back I should have taken it seriously when the men I dated slowly started to show their true sides. Often I made excuses saying "oh they are having a bad day, they had a rough childhood, its not their fault.. etc..."
Everyone has a choice on how they want to present themselves and everyone have a choice how they want to live their own life. So if a guy doesn't want to work hard enough to get out of a rough situation then thats his problem and not my responsibility to be understanding to him. I need to look out for my own happiness and livelihood first.