Failure
There are many reasons people don’t go for their dreams and goals. One of them is Fear of Failure.
This is a fear that can paralyze you and keep you from playing big with your life.
This can come from past history where people you loved and cared about told you your best wasn’t good enough. Small quips like:
- “You’re smarter than that.”
- “You can do better than that.”
- “That looks like a 5-year-old did that.”
- “Ugh, that’s so clunky.”
These statements can create a life of perfectionism and self-doubt that keeps us from ever doing anything unless it’s the best, most top notch, epic thing ever. Anything else is worthless.
We start to avoid anything outside our box and either our anxiety hits the roof, or we dive deep into depression…because we KNOW we’re meant for more
Overcoming “Failure”
The thing is, failure is inevitable. It is through our mistakes that we learn and grow. If we’re living in a world in which we never make a mistake or fail at something, our world is too small.
Remember when you were in Kindergarten? You just took those crayons and scribbled away on the paper, so proud of the marks you were making. Or maybe you plunged your hands into the paint and smeared it all over the easel, enjoying the wet stickiness and bright colors.
You weren’t afraid to make a mess, because it was encouraged. You were learning how paint moves, how the wax showed up on the paper. You were also learning that when you flick your hand this way, it does this amazing thing. And when you flick it that way, it does something equally amazing but different.
It is this learning that gave you the building blocks to begin to write your name, draw a picture (if only a stick figure), and begin to communicate through a medium other than your voice.
It was the FAILURE of doing that taught you. And this is why celebration is so crucial.
Celebrating Your Failures
This can be a hard task, this celebration thing. We’ve become accustomed to hearing all the negative that we forget to acknowledge the positive.
Yeah, that painting looks like a 5-year-old did it…but you didn’t dare paint at all before and now you’re looking at a scraggly barn and indecipherable cow. BUT YOU’RE LOOKING AT IT!
It’s a small step to becoming the artist you want to be. Heck, someone may look at it and think you were inspired by Picasso himself.
Yes, that song is clunky and childish…but you never played the instrument before, and you MADE MUSIC! You actually made a sound! WHOOP!
And who knows? Maybe James Hetfield was walking by and thought “well, that’s catchy” and makes your melody into Metallica’s next big hit
What about that short story? There were no words on the paper before and now you have characters and some action.
Its simplicity could grow into the next great literary novel.
Failure Means You Took Action
The point is, YOU DID SOMETHING! Something you didn’t do before. If you have done it before, you did it again and made it just that much better.
It’s the effort that counts and moves you forward.
Will you ever become Picasso, Mariah Carey, or Stephen King? Maybe not. But you will become the person you want to be. And you will have people in your world who will look at you and feel inspired.
But the best part is that you are doing what you love and living your best life. So, take 10-seconds and shake your bootie. Do a little dance. Celebrate yourself for taking whatever small action that led to having something that wasn’t there before.
And if you have a safe someone, or someones, share it with them and let them celebrate you too.
Each small movement forward is a BIG DEAL and deserves its time in the limelight.
If you don’t have a safe space in which to celebrate your failures and what they mean for you, I invite you to join my world. Grab the FREE Goal Template and let’s get started mapping out your dream, failures and all.