How You Can Rebound from the Disappointment of Failure
If you’ve made attempts at anything important in your life, it’s likely that you have failed along the way. I’ve rebounded from a few failures that seemed catastrophic at the time, but ultimately sent me down the most opportunistic paths. Never let the initial, overwhelming disappointment of failure crush your dreams because sometimes losing can be exactly what you needed, whether you knew it or not.
A Story About a Time That I Failed
In the summer of 2014, I was on a relentless search for a teaching job in the Portland area. My wife had received a great internship through Oregon State University and I had four years of teaching experience in Missouri and I wanted to continue doing the career I loved in Oregon.
It was not easy finding schools that wanted to interview me from afar, but a few decided to give me a shot. One school in particular seemed like my dream school and after an initial Skype interview, they asked me to come to the Portland area to interview in person. This was exciting news, but a few issues were that we were planning to move ten days after the scheduled interview date and they did not offer to pay for my travel expenses.
After many discussions with my wife, I decided to dig into our savings and go to Portland to pursue my dream job. I did well in my next interview and was called back as a finalist for a third interview. In all honesty, the administration gave me the strong vibe that the job was mine and like the first two interviews, the final interview went extremely well.
Ultimately, as I was sitting in a coffee shop thirty hours from home waiting to hear back, I got the call that they had offered the job to someone else and I was absolutely crushed. There I was, ten days from moving to Oregon, jobless, with over $1,000 less in our savings account… but I couldn’t let this failure define me!
How I Rebounded and You Can Too
Take time to process your failure
After the initial disappointment and disbelief subside a little; take time to process the entire situation. Do not jump to extreme conclusions, or place blame on others because that will not fix the situation. During this time of processing, it is best to be alone to sort your thoughts out and figure out the next step in moving forward. Use this time to time to re-energize and think about why you work so hard to accomplish your goals.
Actively seek ways to get better from it
You may not be able to find the answers to why you failed on your own, so you may need the help of others. Regarding the story I wrote about earlier; I wanted to know from the principal himself why I was not offered the job. The email I sent to him was not hostile in nature as I only wanted to know what I could do to be better in future.
The principal sent me back a lengthy email in which he gave me a few pointers and I took his criticism seriously and planned to use it in future interviews. A couple weeks later I found a teaching job and did, in fact use many pointers that he gave me in order to better articulate my points
Instead of dwelling, seek ways to learn from failure and get better.
Continue seeking opportunities
You cannot let failure derail you from continuing to seek out your goals. In my situation, I processed the failure and sought out ways to get better from it immediately; so my next move was to continue looking for good teaching jobs in the area. This process paid off and by the end of the day (the day that I was turned down for the aforementioned job), I had emailed another principal and then was offered the chance to interview.
Failure hurts, but you must keep your goals in mind even in the midst of the pain. Keep moving forward and understand that you will only be a “failure” if you give up altogether. Opportunities are out there, so keep seeking them and use your past failures as a guide to lead you to success.
Hopefully this helps you with that needed push to continue pursuing your dreams.



