Concealed within every failure, buried within every setback, lie clues toward the path forward, lessons to be pondered and treasured. Regrettably it is all too easy to throw a pity party, don the sugar high cloak of victim status, absolve ourselves by holding others responsible (aka giving away our power) and wallow in our misery. We can choose to vow never to so expose ourselves to the cruel vagaries of fate, to stay safe with in the known walls of our chosen comfort zone aka rut/self-imposed limits, locked up behind prison bars of our own making, in effect giving up all of which profits us nothing.
Or we can choose differently. There is always gold amidst the dross of failure if we but make the effort to sift it out. Every setback contains the seeds of success.
It is a very simple thing to say, most great truths are. However, it takes deep desire, laser focused effort, and directed energy to discipline yourself to stay positive, solution oriented, centered on your goals when all the emotions of defeat swirl around you. I find it helpful to inoculate against failure by counter intuitively pre-visualizing failure AND seeing myself responding calmly, effectively; implementing my back up plan, reminding myself that success is a marathon, not a sprint.
Closing Quotes:
“Most attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.” – Napoleon Hill, 1883-1970
“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” – Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013
“The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won’t. It’s whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere.” – Barack Obama
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier