A friend once told me that he didn’t consider it a successful night of drinking unless he blacked out. He claimed to enjoy the game of piecing together what happened in the days following the blackout. This is extreme and suggests deeper issues but most of us have enjoyed a scaled back version of this scenario where a drink or two has led us to decisions and scenarios that we wouldn’t normally consider: the ill-advised trip to Taco Bell, the Walk of Shame and the hangovers.
At some point you're going to make a mistake and you're first instinct may be to run and hide. Say, to Canada. Its worth taking some time to reflect, to track down the reason the mistake was made, but don't that become the thing that keeps you from dealing with the mistake itself. If you care, if you're committed to contributing to something larger than yourself, you won't run. You'll take a stand, claim your mistake (big or small) and commit to fixing it.
We all have our stories and we all have had to deal with the consequences. That’s the lesson: Drunk or sober, you will make bad decisions in life and you need to deal with them. You’ll need to claim your mistakes, personal and professional, and continue moving forward. It’s counter-intuitive but embracing the bad calls will earn you respect and it's the only way to learn from your mistakes.