Why It’s Okay To Fail Sometimes…
I don't know why I chose this title. I'm rubbish at admitting I can't do something, and I'm even worse saying that I've failed. Call it cognitive discourse if you're feeling fancy.
Accepting failure is an integral part of life, no matter where you are on your journey. Without acceptance, there is no way to learn and grow in the future. It's the foundation that all life is built upon. We are who we are because of our past failures. It doesn't lessen the pain and the agony we go through when dealing with loss, it's most certainly a means to an end. Honestly, I wouldn't say I like the idea of failure; it gets to the point where I'm addicted to the stress as a means to prevent the loss.
Failure has been a severe antagonist in my life, rearing it's ugly head every time I overcommit or cover worry. I wish I could say I've grown out of my fear of failure, but it would be a lie. I don't feel too nervous about making the wrong move or stuck in an emotional prison. But I'm keenly aware that life is precarious at all times. But you can't see it at the moment. When we're going through the stages of grief and anger, it's hard to pinpoint any rhyme or reason for how our failures will serve us rather than hinder us. But it's okay to fail, no matter what anyone else tells you. in fact, there are a few reasons why it's okay to fall.
Suck it up the sunshine
As painful as it is to go through failure, it happens to everyone. The more significant the loss, the more you take away from it. Sometimes, people need to have their egos shatters to instil a more value-driven approach to life that doesn't exist when we're riding from high to high.
Annoyingly, failure is a bit of a taboo in our society. We're flooded with images and videos of people who've achieved the pinnacle of success in the arts, entertainment, sports and business. In their shadows, we feel like lesser people when we fail.
Failure makes you learn more about yourself.
Life isn't just about the destination; it's about the journey too. It's essential to take time to learn about who you are and try associating meaning to your existence, something we don't tend to do early on or before we've had to endure tremendous struggles.
Failure in life makes you dig deeper and reach those new understandings. It's okay to fail because you can shed light on what you want and where you plan to go. Whether it's through meditation or journaling, reflect on life and develop strategies to push through present-day obstacles.
I feel like I'm pushing back onto previous points here, but you need to grow from failure.
There's always a plan B
"I never allow myself to become discouraged under any circumstances. I recall that after we had conducted thousands of experiments on a certain project without solving the problem, one of my associates after we had conducted the crowning experiment and it had proved a failure, expressed discouragement and disgust over our having failed 'to find out anything.' I cheerily assured him that we had learned something. For we had known for a certainty that the thing couldn't be done that way and that we would have to try some other way. We sometimes learn a lot from our failures if we have put into the effort the best thought and work we are capable of." — American Magazine.
Success is sweeter after failure.
As someone who has made several cockups and lost out on countless opportunities, I can tell you that eventual success tastes far sweeter. When you reach that ultimate goal after an endless struggle, there is almost no more incredible feeling. If you haven't experienced that yet, I assure you that it all becomes so worth it in this single feeling.
Like I said before, it's just as much the journey as it is the destination. The culmination of all your efforts and struggles make success taste fucking great. You realise what you had to go through to get there and how many hurdles you had to overcome.
But yeah, don't give up.