“You are going to fail.  That is not a negative thing.  Learn from what you did and if you fail again at least you are one step closer to getting it right,” unknown.  This wasn’t attributed to anyone, it was just on my calendar but I loved the quote.  Unless we sit in that pristine box for our entire lives, failure is inevitable at some point.  We have this concept that failure is a bad thing that is one of the hardest hurdles to get over.  No one likes to fail. No one likes to be seen struggling.  There are very real reasons for that still sitting in our reptilian brain, the survival mechanisms that tell us we are going to die if we are exposed, that one mistake can mean we are eaten alive.  Shifting from the idea that a mistake can kill us to a mistake isn’t the end of the world is hard.  And don’t get me wrong, I understand very clearly there are certain mistakes we can make today that are still going to kill us. So the shift needs to happen in discerning the importance of the failure and the risk.  Those situations that have potential harm need to be reconsidered while those that are merely embarrassing aren’t so important.

As I said, unless we spend our lives in a box we are going to fail at some point.  It doesn’t mean it’s fun to fail.  It means we are human.  It’s part of our process.  We are meant to give into the things that call to us because they lead us to our purpose and passion.  That doesn’t mean it will all be smooth sailing.  No, there will always be some rough seas because we need to learn to navigate the waters of our lives.  When things are too smooth we only know how to drive when it’s perfect.  The weather can change at any time and we need to know how to adapt.  Something I never wanted to admit was that my life was pretty smooth because I was afraid to take chances on the things I really wanted to do.  I never thought I would succeed at any of it.  I never learned how to navigate disappointment because I went for what I knew I could do.  Not that I didn’t enjoy those things, but the things that really lit me up often took a back burner because I was afraid to admit I wanted it or I was afraid I couldn’t get it.  I thought failure meant fail forever, not learn and try again.