She fell, hard. Smacking her face on the floor.
As my Mama senses went into overdrive, she popped right back up, smile on her face, seemingly unfazed by what had happened and ready to try all over again.
That’s what happens when we’re little and beginning to navigate the world.
We try. We fail. We try again and keep on trying until we accomplish the latest milestone.
But somewhere along the journey we begin to avoid the falls. We convince ourselves that the comfort and stability are more important than failing and trying again and again until we’ve met our goal.
We hear comments like “maybe that isn’t for you“ or “you’d be better off doing xyz” or “that’s impossible” or “you’ll never be able to do that.” And we start to believe it.
Now sure. Maybe we need to become aware of the million other options and possibilities in this life. But most of the time, we just give up way too early.
We adopt the “that’ll never work” model for everything from our hope and dreams to our health and healing.
When we start to believe that we can’t have it, do it, be it or achieve it. When we avoid the obstacles or view the challenges as insurmountable and not worthy of our time and effort. When we stop trying all together.
We leave way too much on the table. Our aspirations. Our best lives. Our service to others. Our potential. And most importantly our purpose.
In an effort to avoid failure, we miss the beautiful opportunities and experiences that were never meant to defeat us, but to offer us a chance to blossom and become more of who we are capable of being.
So stop and ask yourself in what areas of your life are you afraid to fail.
When you take the time to acknowledge the fear, you weaken it’s power over you.
You can then begin to take steps towards changing your outlook, viewing failure as a stepping stone bringing you closer and closer to your desired goals.
So go ahead and get it over with. Yes, I’m telling you to fail. Because failing will never make you a failure. It’ll propel you, teaching you a lesson about life and, most importantly, yourself.
When have you avoided failure? What has failure taught you? What would you do if you knew you would succeed instead of fail? Let me know in the comments below.
