You can’t be afraid of failing. The only people who never fail are people who never try. Its not how many times you fail, it’s how many times you get up and try again. I could go on and on with quotes, sayings, and other expressions about the possible positive outcomes that are born out of our failures. It’s all true, by the way. I’m not here to argue and say that failure is unacceptable or any other similar nonsense. Failing is, in fact, often the seed of a future success.
In reality, failing is just a circumstance. It’s a real part of our lives, but it’s an experience, and an experience’s value really depends on the person who experiences it. That seems a little unclear. Maybe an example will help me clarify what I mean. Two people are in a traffic accident and both end up paralyzed from the waist down. One channels their pain, suffering, and emotion into training for the Paralympics and raising awareness to improve the lives of people in similar situations. The other, overwhelmed by their loss and the unfairness of their situation turns to alcohol and drugs to escape the pain.
This isn’t based on a true story, and it’s not intended as a judgment of these imaginary people. I’m not claiming either of these people would be failing. I’ve never experienced anything even close to this, so I can’t tell someone how to react. The point is that two people in the same circumstances can react in completely different ways. In the same way, how we react to failing is what decides whether our failing was a good or bad experience.
All of this is a really long way for me to get to my point: We will fail. Failing is neither good nor bad, on it’s own. We will be either good or bad, and how we respond to failing will go a long way to determining which we’ll be. Will we crumble and settle into being okay? Mediocre? Or will we learn and grow from our failures and achieve the greatness we were created for?
Leave a Reply