“You must make a decision that you are going to move on.
It won’t happen automatically.
You will have to rise up and say, ‘I don’t care how hard this is, I don’t care how disappointed I am, I’m not going to let this get the best of me. I’m moving on with my life.”
― Joel Osteen, Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential
The year is almost over (plus my birthday’s only a month away — yay!), and so I’ve been going over the last 11 months, and all that I’ve been picked up along the way, this week.
I’ve also been reading a lot of autobiographies and learning from the experiences of the ones around me, and one thing that 2016 has shown me clearly is that anything is possible if you deeply hope and believe and trust.
And take action, of course.
For most people,the fear of the future and all it could bring is one of the strongest.
No one wants to turn out as a failure.
The thought is scary enough.
But no matter what point you are in life right now, I have six little reminders for you about any anxiety you might be feeling or may have ever felt regarding failure and I truly hope it inspires someone this weekend and beyond:
1. Past failures? Means absolutely nothing.
Same with past successes.
Forget them.
Really.
Reminds me of some silly teachers that think they can predict which one of their students would turn out successful tomorrow.
That’s all nonsense.
Heck, Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein sure proved theirs wrong.
For every failure, wisdom is provided to do better if we look well enough.
If we put aside our shame, there is so much to learn.
Micheal Jordan’s story in particular was one that caught my attention greatly.
Not just that he was cut off from his high school’s basketball team alone, but the main details:
He said: “I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
Now, that’s guts!
9000 shots! 300 games!
How did he suddenly become one of the greatest?
Pushing forward. Unrepentantly.
2. People really and truly are and still are, starting from the scratch.
Too many of the most successful names that look like demi-gods in our eyes now had to rebuild from point zero. Repeatedly.
Go talk to Google if you’re doubtful.
So many.
And so do not use that as an excuse to give in to depression and fear and to exhaustion.
It’s not.
So many were total failures.
Write-offs in their fields.
No one could understand why they kept going.
That didn’t matter, that didn’t stop them.
For every roadblock, they looked for another way.
It’s not a big deal unless you make it one for yourself. Really.
Why?
I personally have a strong conviction that when you know what you want and set your mind to it, the universe as a whole just has to work to your favour.
It doesn’t matter how many times you start all over, as long as you keep it coming, something has to move.
Do you believe me? I sure hope so.
3. No one turns out to be a failure in life because of failing.
Nope.
Failing and rising and failing and rising does NOT make you a failure.
Because if you must succeed at anything, you must fail,and you must fail with your dignity and with humility and with a heart open to learn from that failure.
A failure can only be one who is filled with so much shame,that they become too frightened to fail again they stop trying.
The only thing capable of labelling you a failure is what you do next after failing.
Remember that.
4.You don’t need every single person on your side.
Too many people still carry around the mentality that those who fail probably didn’t make good use of those around them or didn’t really have resourceful and influential and useful fellows as support systems.
Actually, they most times relied too much on those around them.
And that’s where a problem starts.
Don’t need others to push for you.
If something is important to you, carry it by your darn self.
And like Thomas Szasz said: “The proverb warns that, ‘You should not bite the hand that feeds you.’ But maybe you should, if it prevents you from feeding yourself.”
5. There’s no maximum number fixed to how many times you should fail before you giving up is justifiable or acceptable.
So, I love chicken.
Anyone who knows me knows this.
And of late, I just found out something interesting about one of my favorite chicken outlets.
So Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken apparently had a hard time selling his idea at first.
I’m trying to imagine that. I cannot possibly.
But it’s true — his famous secret chicken recipe was rejected 1,009 times before a restaurant accepted it.
1,009!
And I just wonder, how??
I mean, it’s just a recipe.
He could have easily discarded it and put together another.
(And I never would have come in contact with one of my loves. The horror.)
But, really, this is one of the reasons I have no envy or jealousy for the ones who really suceed.
They earned their place.
They fought for it.
They did.
And so, how long you’re willing to fight for your place is a question you alone can answer.
6. It is never too late to win in life.
Simply because life doesn’t end when you do.
And one thing we forget is that our lives are bigger than what’s around us.
Sometimes we have no idea who’s watching, who we’re influencing, who we’re inspiring, who’s equally drawing strength because we somehow gather strength together for ourselves.
And that’s winning, my friend.
That’s winning!
Sometimes we find out much later, sometimes we do not.
But it is never too late to leave your mark.
Artist Van Gogh sold only one painting, and this was to a friend and only for a very small amount of money.
He was never a success during his life,yet he kept on painting, sometimes starving to complete his over 800 known works.
Today, they bring in hundreds of millions.
Van Gogh did good — I don’t care what anyone else says.
Leave your footprints, somehow.
It’s easy to look at the lives of those who have hit it big in life, and we become worried, and wonder if we can do the same.
Well today, I want to tell you with all confidence, that yes.
Yes, you can.
Just do not doubt your abilities, don’t belittle what you can do.
For every good thing, there is a price that must be paid.
So keep that in mind, and keep your eyes on success, nothing less.
Failing is inevitable.
But you can choose to go through life with fear and shame because of this or with confidence and assurance because no matter what — come hell, come high water, you’re hitting that darn mark.
(And a massive congratulations to my sweetheart MaryAnne, who inspired me to put together this post, by getting into her dream school that’s considered pretty tough to get into, to major in Engineering, after trying a year and failing at it, and trying again this year with slim chances but actually trusting my words when I encouraged that all would definitely turn out well in the end.
Thank you for paying even the least bit of attention to me.
Can’t wait to see all those matriculation photos!)
Keep believing, darling reader.
Because yes, yes you can.
Deliciously Yours To Savour,
Ima | Loveasuquo.com.
