Monday, November 18, 2013

Tea time with Failure

The funny thing about failure--it's everywhere. It's also not something you want to hear or admit. But it's always there--waiting. A bad word to many. A blemish to a blank sheet. To those who strive for perfection, it's the boogey man under the bed ready to strike fear. Let's face it, it will happen to you. More than once. It comes in all shapes and sizes from a simple thing to something that will not only affect you but many, maybe thousands or millions.

So, I sat down with failure and poured a cup of tea. What is failure really trying to say? Is failure that bad? I guess it depends on how big it is, but I stepped back for a moment and really let failure tell me. It seems I've misunderstood it. Sure failure hurts that's how it gets your attention. And at the time that it strikes you may not know why until a later time. I'm talking possibly years. That's where the misunderstanding comes in. Failure gets blamed for a lot of things, but it's the victim that needs to pay attention and turn failure around. Send him packing. I will admit failure has entered my life on many occasions, more than I like to state, but it wasn't until recently when I really looked at it--with my own two eyes and not from others advice, although that doesn't hurt the situation--it softens it. Spins it. Allows perspective to set in.

What is failure really trying to say? Try harder? Do better? Learn more? That's part of it. It's also trying to say that nothing is perfect. There's always room for improvement and everything is flawed. Sure there's a normal but believe it or not that's left to interpretation. Failure is trying to tell me there is another way. It's not my time. Failure never said to stop or not try. It simply is guiding me another way.

That's where it gets foggy. I need to know a clear path. I don't like the unknown. That's why failure is scary. It's messes things up and cuts your yellow brick road in half, blacking it out, making it seems like it leads to nowhere. The only way to get back is to keep going, try something different, learn something new--grow stronger. That's what life is--isn't it? Growing and finding out who you are. Failure has to be there to make sure that happens.

My thoughts for today.

How is everyone doing?

Have a great day!