My husband, Rick, tore his AC riding dirt bikes in Moab, Utah with our sons, my younger brother and a couple of teenagers. I said, “It fascinates me that you keep biking, knowing that you will fall. Your bike is too heavy and they tend to choose pretty rugged terrain.” He said, “I love the challenge and I like to be with my boys out in nature.” Rick is not afraid of falling and he is becoming a better rider.
He is not afraid of falling.
He is becoming a better rider.
He is not afraid of failure. This mindset is helping him become better at something.
Rick is good for me. I am afraid of some things. His example encourages me to try hard things.
For Rick, “failures” are truly steps to success. (By the way, he is not foolish. He takes calculated risks. I’m not encouraging anyone to be foolish!) Another example: If something goes wrong on a construction site, he simply repairs it without a lot of fretting. Maybe we would fret less if we exchange the word “failure” for the word “step”.
Can you think of something in your life that you’ve considered a failure which might actually be a step toward something better?
“I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.” (Thomas Edison, in Zorian Rotenburg, “To Succeed You Must Fail, and Fail More” (Nov 13, 2013), Insightssquared.com).
“The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.” (Theodore Roosevelt, The American Monthly Review of Reviews, 1900)
“Never give up, never, never give up.” (Winston Churchill)
The greatest thing my mother taught me was “Try again!”
I asked my mother-in-law why she never worried. She said, “I figure if something goes wrong I can fix it.”
“He (God) allows us to take and keep taking His exams…countless second chances in our day to day struggles.” (Lynn G. Robbins, April 2018)
GROWTH
When a baby is learning to walk she falls, a lot! She gets stronger and smarter. It seems that she doesn’t even notice the falling part. She’s simply having joy! Isn’t that cool!
We are designed for growth. We are designed for challenges and problem solving. We are innately strong. If you view yourself as weak you will be afraid to try.
You are strong!
It’s okay if you have moments of feeling weak. Just feel it, breathe into it, smile at it. Call it’s bluff. Just get curious about it. It will ease up. It’s just moments. It’s not who you are.
Here is something to be curious about: Why do we focus on our failures and spend little time rejoicing in and feeling grateful for our successes? Even small successes? In his book, “Tiny Habits”, B. J. Fogg explains the value of celebrating tiny successes by just saying to yourself something like “Yes!”
I personally find great value in this practice.
One day I had one “failure” and multiple successes. Which should I have focused on? I read, exercised, ate nutritiously, cleaned house and had some wonderful time with loved ones, 1X1, 100%. I also hit a tree with a snowmobile! I, and our grandchild, June, flew off the snowmobile. Yikes! We were blessed to receive no injuries except my bruised ribs. Instead of getting down on myself, what if I used this experience, this mistake, as a step in helping me gain greater compassion for myself and others, be a better driver and become better at handling stressful situations?
TAKE ANOTHER STEP. YOU ARE GROWING.
Think of time-lapse photography. Growth can be imperceptible. (In time-lapse photography the camera records a very slow process then plays it back at high speed. For example: a sun setting or a flower blooming.) If you watch a flower growing in real time you are going to think nothing is happening because it is so slow and imperceptible. But if you come back in a few weeks you will see a beautiful flower has formed. When you are in heaven watching a high speed video of your life you may say “Hey, my life turned out pretty good!”
You are growing! You are stepping upward!
You are doing better than you think!
Keep up the good work!