Have you ever failed and thought poorly about yourself? Felt like you were ready to just quit?
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Winston Churchill
I read that quote the other day, and boy that couldn’t have come at a better time. I recently was failing at something, and wondering what I was going to do to fix it. Yes, I felt bad, realizing I had taken my eye off the ball. Of not only one thing, but several, so everything seemed to be crashing down at one time. Like I was being kicked repeatedly, and couldn’t get back up. Whatever the reason, whether I was lazy, unfocused, not paying attention to important things, or just life, things just seemed like they were getting worse instead of better. Ironically, at the same time, I began having back problems. I know that each physical problem generally has an “internal” reason for happening, and when your lower back hurts, it generally means you are not feeling supported. I definitely felt like the Universe wasn’t supporting me, so it’s no wonder on top of all the other bad feelings, I could add a terrible lower backache to the list!
Then I read that quote from Winston Churchill. “Success is not final.” While it is true that my life would be changing, in a way I think I will not like, I realize that no one likes change. But sometimes holding on to something is not doing us good but harm. Learning to detach allows us to more graciously accept the change and be “in the flow”. Detachment only serves to remind you that the more you try to hold onto something, the greater your feelings of grief should that loss happen. Remember, nothing in life is permanent. By opening up to that fact, it will make it easier to accept a new “present” from the Universe, if you just allow it.
“Failure is not fatal.” Again, I didn’t like the fact that I have failed, but this is certainly not something that is going to kill me, but just change my circumstances, perhaps my surroundings. As they say, however, when a door closes a window opens, so maybe it is time to look at life from a different viewpoint. Maybe it won’t actually be a bad thing, but a step up to an even better direction.
“It is the courage to continue that counts.” I certainly have a choice. I can lay down, cry, complain. OR I can dust myself off, get up, maybe a little more slowly than normal, but I can begin to forge a new path, and to continue on to make my life count. No matter how many times we get knocked down, continuing to have the courage to get up again and show the world what we are made of is all it takes to potentially turn a bad thing into a wonderful one. How many times did Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Steve Jobs fail? The important thing is that they got up again.
How many times you get knocked down doesn’t really matter; it’s that you continue to get up and keep trying that counts!!