I remember learning how to ice skate. For those of you who don’t know how to ice skate, its a lot harder than it looks. At least for me. I remember falling literally 100 times over and over before I was capable of even making the most basic movements. After the entire ordeal, I have fallen so many times that my knee area was heavily bruised.
But you know what I thought while I was looking at my bruises? I thought, I finally know how to ice skate! I don’t care about all the pain that I went through, I don’t care if I picked it up much slower than other people did, I don’t care if all the people in the ice rink looked at me funny because I sucked at ice skating. The only thing that mattered to me was that I was finally able to ice skate.
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“The greatest glory of living lies not in never falling, but in rising everytime you fall.” ~Nelson Mandela
Do not count your failures
I was talking to a good friend of mine on her birthday. She had this complicated look on her face as if she was happy, but at the same time she had this deep sadness written on her face. I asked her what is wrong. She told me she was happy that I was there and everyone else, however, she was sad because she felt like she hasn’t done anything in her life.
She told me how all her relationships have failed and that she feels like her life is a mess and now shes getting older. It felt very unnatural to me because she was supposed to be celebrating another year of being alive on earth, yet she was reviewing all of her failures.
I told her, she should not count her failures, but her accomplishments. If I did what she was doing, I would probably never get out of bed because I have failed so many times. You would need a hardbound 100 volume encyclopedia to list all of them.
Carry your success with you
That being said, you should not completely disregard your failures. They are there to teach you a lesson. Simply learn from your mistakes. Using what you have learned, propel yourself to success. Do not carry your failures with you like a tired and over-burdened duffel bag, instead use them to your advantage.
All those mistakes and all those failures were there so you could succeed. Once you do succeed, add it as a notch on your belt. View your accomplishments like trophies as you get older. It will make your life a whole lot happier and more satisfying.
Rise everytime you fall
Bill Gates’ first business failed miserably, Albert Einstein wasn’t able to speak until he was 4 years old, Stephen Kings first novel was rejected 30 times, Jay-Z initially couldn’t get any record labels to sign him and the infamous Thomas Edison had to fail 1000 times before creating the light bulb.
Every time that I face a new challenge I remind myself all of the times I have failed and stood back up. I remind myself that I am capable of doing more. So rise up every single time that you fall. Failures are only there to serve as a stepping stone so you can rise up much more quickly to your deserved reward.