Why I’ve Decided To Embrace Failure
How to take lessons from losses
In the time that it took me to come up with a title for this article, I’ve found 3 grey hairs in my head and contemplated my thus far, complicated journey through adulthood.
I’m 29, and there have been many days where I’ve woken up feeling that I have nothing to show for it — or — do I?
What they tell us is to go to school (get in debt) and get a good job, stay for 30 years and retired comfortably. If only it were so linear. Our lives are a jagged, winding road to the top of a treacherous mountain that leaves no one unscathed.
This as I’ve learned, is the beauty of the journey.
Up until this point in my life, I’ve probably hit an amount of setbacks double my age. At the time, it felt like I was going to fall over and die. The only part of me that was being killed off was my weakness and lack of fortitude.
I strongly believe that the first thing that society tries to convince us to do is to only see the low hanging fruit that dangles directly in front of our eyes, blinding us to the riches that await from what our hearts show us.
What can you see for yourself, the ghosts of blunders from the past? Or can you see what is standing behind them, opportunity?
Questions such as these have helped me to not only overcome my doubts and fears, but I welcome them now.
Failure isn’t the boogey man that we are all conditioned to fear. It’s the best teacher we could ever have. It forces us to thoroughly examine every area of our lives, and with the end goal being to examine ourselves and adapt to life.
Again, life isn’t linear. It’s a crooked, upward climb.
What we’ve been taught about failure lays the base, but add dirt the mountain all on our own.
We try to avoid failure by taking part in the things that we know are safe, not the things that we are called to do. Rarely do people make this leap, and its completely understandable and reasonable as to why.
It’s easy to make moves when you’ve got a guarantee of success.
My whole life I’ve been afraid to fail.
Now, I wear my blunders with pride.
I’ve lost jobs, friends and at one point in time, my own sense of being. But I have a clearer vision having gone through those things than I ever could have possessed if I had been successful before I was ready.
I’ve failed over and over gain, but I find myself smiling about it now because had I been successful when I thought I was ready, I would have lost everything.
Maybe you’ve been crippled by the fear of failure. It happens to a vast majority of us.
It can be overcome.
No, pushing toward your dreams does not feel good. If it feels good all the time, something is wrong. It means you aren’t growing and even if you do get there, it will be a flash in the pan.
True, lasting success is built off the back of failure.
Coming up short does not make you a failure.
What you should fear is not being strong enough to handle success when it comes.
Only failure can produce that.
Try your best to put yourself in position to succeed, but if you come up short, be glad anyway.
All failure means is that you’re on your way.
Fail forward.
