My Library of F*ck-Ups

I do a lot. I mess up a Lot. Here’s why that’s fine.

A lot tends to happen in my life. Not by coincidence, but by design. I’m a person with lots of energy — I do a lot, I have a lot of interests, and as a friend once put it: “Who does a lot, naturally makes mistakes.” In German we say: “Wo gehobelt wird, fallen Späne.” (Google it. Worth it.)

Very often, I feel incredibly stupid about the mistakes I make. Even when I know they’re normal. Even when I know I’m only human.

So I want to share my most recent screw-ups with you. Maybe you’ll feel a little less bad about your own. Or maybe you’ll just laugh — because honestly, they make great stories.

1. The Spanish Class I Never Took

It was a beautiful, snow-white January day and I couldn’t have been more hyped. Before starting a four-month sabbatical in Spain, I’d booked a one-week Spanish course — A2 level, since my basics are decent.

Even better: in Germany, employees are legally entitled to five days of educational leave per year. Too many Germans ignore this and miss out on five extra days to try something new. I’ll never understand that.

So I took the train to the suburb of Hannover where the language school was, sat down in the classroom… and waited. I was early (not typical), so I didn’t worry. Then the lesson was supposed to start. I was still alone.

I checked my emails. Right room. Wrong week. The class had taken place the week before.

I cannot tell you how stupid I felt. Everything had been meticulously planned. I’d even pre-cooked food for the week because the school was in the middle of nowhere.

But I’m also a problem-solver. I spontaneously found an equivalent class in Spain with online participation — and then spent a considerable amount of time convincing our HR department that this counted under the educational leave law. Which meant telling the entire story to our HR business partner.

I did not tell my friends. Some of them are reading this now. Please don’t ask me any questions guys.

Lost cost: 230 EUR. No refund.

2. The (Un)Foreseeable Bike Crash

We’re back in a snow-heavy week in Germany. Winter was rough this year.

As chronically short on time as I am, I tend to make risky decisions. I’d just come from run club and needed to get to a tennis lesson. There was heavy snow on the ground. I side-eyed my beloved road bike. I named her Tessa. Tessa is a beast who conquered Mallorca with me. She also has a rather fragile carbon frame.

Spoiler: I took Tessa out in the snow to make it to tennis on time.

The only thing I was on time for was my crash, which happened shortly before arriving at the tennis club. Yes, I know. I know.

Luckily, my body was completely uninjured. Tessa was less lucky.

Lost cost: unknown, because I’ve been avoiding the bike clinic. If the frame is fully broken: ~1.500 EUR (ouuuutch!). If it’s just the visibly damaged part: ~400 EUR (still outch!).

3. The Abandoned Subscription

Adobe, I’m coming for you. (Is it legal to rant about them here? Let’s find out.)

Here’s something worth knowing: if you don’t cancel an Adobe free trial in time, you don’t get a monthly contract. You get an annual subscription, billed monthly. These are very different things.

So when the first charge of 26 EUR came in to my surprise, I thought: “fine, I’ll cancel at the end of the month”. When I went to cancel, I was informed that cancelling my annual contract before year-end would cost me over 100 EUR in early termination fees.

It took two hours brainstorming with Claude.ai and chatting with the (well-hidden!) Adobe customer service to resolve this. In the end, they waived the fee out of goodwill — because I asked politely and explained the misunderstanding honestly and in detail.

Lost cost: 26 EUR. Not too bad, all things considered.

The Lesson

I share these stories for a few reasons. To show we’re all just human. To remind myself to be kinder to myself when I mess up.

And to remind you of the same.

The most valuable perspective I’ve come across on this came from a friend who moved to the US.

She told me that one of the biggest cultural differences between Germany and America is how people react to losing money on something avoidable. In Germany, people tend to stay angry about it for quiet some time. In America, people call it a ‘lost cost’ and move on — because there’s simply nothing more to do about it.

Guess who suffers more?

That’s the mindset I want to live by:

See the mistake, acknowledge it, learn from it, move on. No lengthy grumpiness. No negative self-talk. And if possible: Make yourself and others laugh about it.

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