The Hidden Face of Failure

Setbacks happen to everyone. Whether you've failed an exam, been made redundant, failed to make it to your first choice university and everything in between, you've probably rendered on the 'negative' side of failure.

Of course everyone tries to avoid failure, no one wants to fail. Failing at something can have a hugely gloom-ridden effect on someone. You might think that your 'not good enough', or that 'you don't see the point of trying anymore', but that really isn't what failure is about.

Failure is all about reflection. Reviewing your faults if you like. No one is perfect, and as much as you'd love for everything to fall strictly into place- that won't always happen. Something will inevitably go wrong for sure; but how will you react to it?

Will you cry all day thinking 'why is it always me?!' and 'what did I do to deserve this?'.

Or will you instead think yourself "Okay, what have I done wrong to make sure that I don't repeat the same mistake again." This is exactly what failure is about.

Once you've identified your problem, then you'll strive to improve it. This is what failure allows you to do. So there really isn't a need to be scared about it or to even avoid it. It happens. That's what life is all about.

So a note to all perfectionists (ahem...me most importantly), don't be so crestfallen if you fail at something. Pick yourself up, identify where you've went wrong, then strive for improvment. This way you'll succeed. You can't recognise your mistakes if you don't fail.

And lastly, by the words of JK Rowling, "It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all -  in which case, you fail by default." Wise words.

This post was inspired by this motivational video. Give it a clicky, it really is worth your time!