Failure

I was always afraid of failing. I would take it personally and then live these negative stories that weren't even true. I never thought of failure as being a learning or personal growth tool. Funny, because I always told my students that. "It's good to make mistakes...that's how we learn," I'd say. They'd get it and feel good about it. When they would make a mistake, it didn't hurt their feelings; in fact, they kept on going. It's a courageous way to live, even at 6 years old.

Failure sounds like such a harsh word...nobody likes to fail. It's not the end of the world though when it happens. I can think of a few times when I've failed and look where I am now. I'm still here, living life, and feeling pretty happy doing it. I've grown up a lot due to my failures, if I didn't have them, I'd be a completely different person than I am today. What I never got was the learning part. I focused on the failing outcome and not the reasons why. I wasn't able to look back and say, "This is what I did wrong, what can I do to make it better?" Instead, I told myself, "Wow, I'm not good at this, I should just quit." Failure makes us stronger, not weak. It makes us more aware, not blind. Failing should be the fuel that ignites our fire. We just have to keep that in mind when it happens. Easier said than done, I know. But if we practice it, soon it will be an expected part of life, we'll get over it quicker and STILL live out our dreams. Failure is actually the key to our success. If we didn't have it, we wouldn't be who we are today.

"Good people are good because they've come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success, you know." -William Saroyan

Tags: Failure, Courage, Wisdom