Hello there!
At some point or another, you’ve probably heard that failure is a stepping stone to success. It sounds like a cliché but it’s true. The only people who never fail are people who never set out to achieve a goal.
Many people have dreams, hopes, and whishes but they don’t do anything to realize their dreams because they’re afraid they’ll fail. They’re afraid they won’t be able to handle the bitter-tasting disappointment of failure. So they keep idly dreaming, hoping, and wishing.
The biggest problem with dreaming, hoping, and wishing is that it will not get you anywhere. If you do nothing else, nothing will happen. I speak from experience.
For many years, I allowed my fear of failure to rule my life. I let it paralyze me. Earlier, in another blog post, I mentioned that I didn’t have a competitive bone in my body when I was younger. That’s true. But it’s not the whole story…
Confession: Part of my reluctance to compete stemmed from my fear of failure.
I had low self-esteem and every time I failed, my flagging self-esteem sunk to new lows. I also dreaded seeing disappointment on the faces of people who believed in me. And, since I’m being completely honest here, vanity was also an issue. I didn’t want to be perceived as a loser. If I didn’t compete, I wouldn’t fail, I wouldn’t disappoint anyone, and I wouldn’t lose.
No one would think I was a loser if I never lost, right? Wrong!
What I didn’t realize at the time was that it was my “never try, never fail” mantra that made me a loser. If you never take a risk, you’ll never be disappointed. But if you never take a risk, you’ll never succeed either.
I’m going to say it again, “Failure is a stepping stone to success.”
Are you afraid of failure? Join the club. You, me, and millions of other people share this fear. But we don’t have to let the fear turn us into cowards.
Fear and cowardice are two very different things. Yes, you read that correctly. Fear and cowardice are NOT the same thing. You can feel the fear and refuse to let it turn you into a coward. Courage isn’t the absence of fear. Courage is feeling the fear and pushing forward anyway.
That’s all from me for now. Have a fantastic week ahead!
– Sofia
