Making Failure My Friend

Nothing feels good about failing at first.

Nothing feels good about falling short of a goal you’ve set for yourself.

Why would I ever in a million years espouse the idea that failure might be the very thing that pushes me towards success?
What crazy person ever thought that failure would be the healthiest thing for me?

I did. And I still do. 

But I think that’s the really beautiful thing about failure.
Without failure and it’s crushing weight on our souls, after endeavoring for aspirations we’ve worked so hard and come so close to,
we wouldn’t know just how sweet success can taste. 

I’ve made failure my friend, because without it, I’d never know how to get back up after being knocked down.
I’d never know why the goal was worth it, if I’d never failed before.
I’d honestly and truthfully have no appreciation for the goals I’ve set before myself if I hadn’t failed in my first attempts and attaining them. 

Failure reminds me that even though the thing I want the most isn’t in my grasp, that it’s still within reach.
It reminds me that every time I fail, I’m still trying.
I’m still going.
And I’m not giving up. 
Failure reminds me that I’m still moving forward.

Failure has become my friend.
Because without my not-so-easy-to-have friend, failure, I’d never know what true success can really feel like.

No one ever learned a single thing about life by getting knocked down and staying down.
It’s not from the failure that we learn, but what we have learned through the process of failing and in the act of getting back up again.
Getting back up hurts. 
Getting back up means admitting that you aren’t where you want to be.
Getting back up means accepting defeat and moving on despite that.

Failure means they might know.
Failure means not only do you know that you didn’t achieve the goal but so does everyone watching.
There’s nothing easy about that. 

I hope you remember that failure still means you’re trying.
That means you’ve kept going!
That means you got back up again despite whatever odds you faced today, maybe even just this morning.

So keep going. Maybe failure isn’t your friend yet. But I promise if it is your faithful friend already, in time, success will be your reward and confidant. 

Thanks for reading my ever present internal, written down monologues and reflections, y'all.

Love,

Christine Electra


P.S. I failed 3 times today before 8 A.M. But I also got great news about a database project. It’s all about balance right?

​If you want to read one of my favorite articles on failure- click this link!