Friday, April 22, 2011

Failure as Opportunity


Success and Failure Road Sign with dramatic clouds and sky.
Courtesy of Flickr

Sometimes we fail…
I don’t know about you, but I fail at least once every day at something. And I know it’s more than once.
I fail at being the sister or daughter I should be.
I fail to remember something I should have.
I fail to consider my words before they leave my mouth.
I fail at my writing.
I fail at the choices I often make.
I fail to be the Christian I should be.
Don’t take me wrong, I don’t have a defeatist attitude. It’s a matter of choice and I’m sad to say I don’t often make the right choices.
I was recently given the chance to either stand up and fight for what was right or simply sit down and see how the circumstances played out. I wasn’t going to fail Christ and I took the stand, knowing that if I did I might insult someone.
But I didn’t want to fail the One who died for my sins.
Failure doesn’t have to be an option. I often think of my writing. I’m not going to get the perfect phrase on the first time writing it. I’m not going to land an agent the first time I query. And I’m not going to hit the NYT bestseller list on that first novel (not that I would complain if I did…)
My question is: are you going to accept failure? Are you just letting the moment pass and forgeting all about it? We have to learn from our failures, we should learn to embrace them, because only through these so called “failures” will we learn so we don’t make the same mistake twice.
It’s hard to swallow, it often makes us want to quit, but if you look at failure as an opportunity, our lives might be enriched in ways we never expected.
How do YOU look at failure?

6 comments:

  1. I'm with you, after I get over my wallowing in it, I love learning from it.

    Happy Easter!
    ~ Wendy

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  2. The school of hard knocks is always the best teacher.

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  3. Well, I'm very human. I tend to react differently depending on what it is. I usually let things go pretty easily. But if I get reminded of it I tend to get irritable. What can I say, I'm human. But I'm also forgiven.

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  4. WENDY, it's like those contest edits. It's hard to swallow, but in the end will make us better.

    TRACY, with you there!!

    FAYE, yes we are human and every single one of use looks at life differently. I guess my question for today was what would happen if instead of dwelling and beating ourselves up over it, we took it as the opportunity to learn and grow from it. To not make that same mistake again.

    Thanks for stopping by today, always good to see everyone! :)

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  5. Well I haven't failed at any contests yet (because I haven't entered any).

    But I've felt the sting of harsh critiques. They've definitely taught me how to put on my big girl panties. LOL

    I try to learn from them and not let them bother me too much. It's always helpful to have a critique partner who can wallow with you for a minute and then help pull you up when you need it.

    I feel like a turtle. If I keep plugging away at what I'm doing eventually I'll get there.

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  6. JOY, a great analogy for sure. Especially in publishing it can seem SO slow and a long hike to get there, but the journey to tomorrow's dream, no matter how long and tiresome is preparing us every step of the way. :)

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