There was one day a man who never made mistakes, who never said the wrong word, who never offended anyone.
He never talked.
He also never accomplished anything.
He told people they were fine when inside he thought they weren't fine at all and he may have helped them if he wasn't afraid to make enemies.
He remained silent when he disagreed because he knew that people would think he was being rude.
So, he did what everybody did, and thought was everybody thought.
He changed his mind when people changed their minds.
He agreed with the majority when in private he agreed to the contrary.
This way, everybody loved him.
One day, his back hurt. He went to the doctor and complained about his pain. The doctor made X-rays, then he said, "Well, looks like you have no spine."
The man opened his eyes wide. "What do you mean no spine? That's impossible!"
"Your spine dissolved and has been replaced by teeth. These are the teeth of all the people you gossiped about. These are the teeth of the people you lied to. No spine. You have no spine."
The man opened his eyes wide. "But," he said, "everybody loves me."
Compassion is for yourself.
Give yourself the benefit of the doubt like you give others the benefit of the doubt.
Give yourself an out from time to time.
Yes, you can be wrong.
Yes, you can disappoint.
Yes, you can be proud and out of line.
We all can be that person.
And yes you can admit that you were wrong without shame.
Ask to be forgiven if you hurt someone.
And then forgive yourself.
It's not a reason to hate yourself.
It's a learning process.
Allow yourself time to learn.
You make mistakes and you learn from them.
The fact is Allah will not be happy with you until you make mistakes and you ask forgiveness for it, and you learn from it.
Muslims cannot be too proud because when you are proud, you refuse to learn and you do not humble yourself.
So have some spine and own your mistakes.