Failure

The most valuable things for a person to have are opportunities to be confident. If you spend your life never failing your first failure will cause a full stop. Failing creates an understanding of limitations and allows you to push them safely. The more successful you are the more opportunities you will pursue.

            For many people true failure is not familiar. Whether it’s because they’ve grown up with a safety net, or simply because they’ve been blessed with talent, but eventually they must face it. Lack of familiarity creates fear, the more you know about an event, the better you understand a person, the more relatable they become. Without familiarity most people tend to villainize, and this only exacerbates existing fear. The more times you make a mistake, the better you become at handling said mistake, if your first experience with a mistake is in a high-stakes situation, you will inevitably crash and burn.

            Becoming familiar with the point at which you fail allows you to subtly push boundaries and consistently reach new heights. If I over-lift by 30lbs and strain a muscle I will likely be out for a week, if not three. If I over-lift by 10lbs, which is in a reasonable range of my max, I will still tear the muscle and push forward, but I won’t be out of commission for an extended period. Understanding your boundaries is fundamental to growth.

            Completing a task to your own internal standards releases dopamine, this creates positive association with the task completed. If your failure is only met with negativity, you will associate the task with negativity. It is vital for people to not only be allowed to fail, but to be allowed to fail in an environment that they can then try again until they succeed. We shape our own reality, give yourself and others the best opportunity to thrive that you possibly can.