Thanks for writing this, Andrew. I think you hit it on the head with your first paragraph “you’re not a failure until you stop”. Failure is an ingrained part of any endeavor. The responses to those failures really define how you come out of it and how you let it shape you.
Failure is a marker of what your aptitude was at the time, in that arena, mood and state dependent, and that's with no external factors taken into account.
Just do it again with what you learned from failing.
You probably won't fail again, at least not as bad as before.
I have been in that dark place where I would sit and wonder how I would ever get out of the position I was in when it felt the world was caving in on me. I'm sure many here in this thread have been there as well at some point.
Now several years later as I look back I realized that the thing that got me through it was God. I know this is the common answer a lot of people give and probably something a lot of people want to hear and a lot don't want to hear. Regardless, it's the truth and is as real as I'm writing this very comment.
When I was a kid my father always kept a piece of paper on our refrigerator door that had a quote on it that was written by Charles Swindoll.
The quote was long, but it was the last line that came rushing back into my head when I was at my lowest moments and I believe it was God giving me the reminder and encouraging me to keep pushing forward.
The last line says...
"The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude...I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you...we are in charge of our attitudes.”
As I write this comment I'm sitting here today at 47 years of age and my dad is 69. My father is a small business owner and still owns the service station in the same small town in Toccoa, Georgia that I grew up in.
He built our family and life with that service station and that very same sheet of paper with that quote from Charles Swindoll is posted on the wall inside of his office today.
If someone reads this and you are going through a difficult season you're not alone and I would hope that you would stay encouraged and keep pushing forward even if you have to inch by inch.
I promise you can overcome whatever it is that seems impossible, because it isn't impossible and there are platforms like this one with Andrew, myself, and the good people you see in this very thread that are here to help.
The road to success is paved with many failures.... Look at Space X as a good example. Falcon 1 struggled to reach orbit on their first couple attempts. Now reusable Falcon 9 boosters are launching at a cadence of almost every three days!
Excellent read and a view I agree with wholeheartedly. I'd like to add that when looking at failure, we also need to keep consequences in perspective. If we take many small risks where the consequences are small or none, then all the failures give us feedback to improve and there's a chance that one of those risks pays off big. This also helps us take higher stake risks with more confidence.
I've had enough failure in my life that I've probably gotten a little too comfortable with it. But I've also had enough success to know that I can do anything I set my mind to.
Our Western and USA cultures are so focused on SUCCESS that many of us of the more sensitive nature are lacking in great confidence, fall under the boots of pressure to SUCCEED, whatever the heck that means. Scars, I have plenty of them at age 71. Street-smarts, I also have boatloads of that as well, especially after living in San Francisco for 31 years (not there now). If people were a bit less mean, that would help...but we do find a way to keep on, to try again another day, to push gradually through the sorrows and see the sun shine and rise the next morning. God and Son help immensely as well.
We are hardwired to thrive, to pick up and find our way. Good advice Dad. Plunging the depths of our own psyche can help, no easy task in itself. https://homecookedanalysis.substack.com/
Some of my favorite scars come from failures. And I’m not the same man without my scars. ❤️👻
Also I hear chicks dig scars.
So there's that.
🤙
btw the way scars show you've tried ;)
I feel this is the appeal of said scars.
It means there was an attempt that led to consequence that wasn't shied away from.
Wonderful.
exactly!
This is sometimes true.
Thanks for writing this, Andrew. I think you hit it on the head with your first paragraph “you’re not a failure until you stop”. Failure is an ingrained part of any endeavor. The responses to those failures really define how you come out of it and how you let it shape you.
value is not diminished by your failures - we all need to hear this
You're damn right!
Failure is a marker of what your aptitude was at the time, in that arena, mood and state dependent, and that's with no external factors taken into account.
Just do it again with what you learned from failing.
You probably won't fail again, at least not as bad as before.
This was very well written. Thank you for sharing it with the world
I have been in that dark place where I would sit and wonder how I would ever get out of the position I was in when it felt the world was caving in on me. I'm sure many here in this thread have been there as well at some point.
Now several years later as I look back I realized that the thing that got me through it was God. I know this is the common answer a lot of people give and probably something a lot of people want to hear and a lot don't want to hear. Regardless, it's the truth and is as real as I'm writing this very comment.
When I was a kid my father always kept a piece of paper on our refrigerator door that had a quote on it that was written by Charles Swindoll.
The quote was long, but it was the last line that came rushing back into my head when I was at my lowest moments and I believe it was God giving me the reminder and encouraging me to keep pushing forward.
The last line says...
"The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude...I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you...we are in charge of our attitudes.”
As I write this comment I'm sitting here today at 47 years of age and my dad is 69. My father is a small business owner and still owns the service station in the same small town in Toccoa, Georgia that I grew up in.
He built our family and life with that service station and that very same sheet of paper with that quote from Charles Swindoll is posted on the wall inside of his office today.
If someone reads this and you are going through a difficult season you're not alone and I would hope that you would stay encouraged and keep pushing forward even if you have to inch by inch.
I promise you can overcome whatever it is that seems impossible, because it isn't impossible and there are platforms like this one with Andrew, myself, and the good people you see in this very thread that are here to help.
Thank you for the excellent post Andrew.
The road to success is paved with many failures.... Look at Space X as a good example. Falcon 1 struggled to reach orbit on their first couple attempts. Now reusable Falcon 9 boosters are launching at a cadence of almost every three days!
Yes!
They were one launch from bankruptcy if memory serves me.
Fight Night 🤣
It doesn’t take much to recognize the benefits of failure outstrip the benefits of success quite handily. One does not learn very much from success.
Not to say success should be spurned. It can be celebrated but only in muted tones until the success actually costs us something significant.
Very, very well done... and with epic imagery as well. Did you build that image, Andrew?
Well, I worked through some iterative attempts with AI, but I am not that proficient with image editors quite yet.
Excellent read and a view I agree with wholeheartedly. I'd like to add that when looking at failure, we also need to keep consequences in perspective. If we take many small risks where the consequences are small or none, then all the failures give us feedback to improve and there's a chance that one of those risks pays off big. This also helps us take higher stake risks with more confidence.
I've had enough failure in my life that I've probably gotten a little too comfortable with it. But I've also had enough success to know that I can do anything I set my mind to.
Thanks for the reminder that weakness is vice. 🫡
Our Western and USA cultures are so focused on SUCCESS that many of us of the more sensitive nature are lacking in great confidence, fall under the boots of pressure to SUCCEED, whatever the heck that means. Scars, I have plenty of them at age 71. Street-smarts, I also have boatloads of that as well, especially after living in San Francisco for 31 years (not there now). If people were a bit less mean, that would help...but we do find a way to keep on, to try again another day, to push gradually through the sorrows and see the sun shine and rise the next morning. God and Son help immensely as well.
Thank you. Needs to hear this. So uplifting and true
Glad I could be the one to write it for you.
We are hardwired to thrive, to pick up and find our way. Good advice Dad. Plunging the depths of our own psyche can help, no easy task in itself. https://homecookedanalysis.substack.com/