Pull up a chair. Have a seat. Let's chat a little bit.
Here we are almost halfway through the first month of the New Year! How are those resolutions going? There have been many studies showing why you should or should not make a resolution. I am not here to talk about that. What I want to talk about is how your narrative changes when those resolutions don't go exactly as you plan. Or when a goal doesn't happen as you thought it would. Then all of a sudden you are labeling yourself as a failure.
Yet I am here to tell you you are a success because of your failure.
Are you still there? Or are you closing your laptop, choosing a different window to open, walking away thinking how in the world can you find success in failure. Come back, let's chat some more. Bear with me as we begin down this road of reframing what failure is.
Failure is inevitable. Whether it be deviating from a resolution or striving towards a goal and falling short. Winston Churchill said "Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." Now let's be honest, what happens when feel like you failed something or someone. Do you ultimately get right back up, cheerfully, and enthusiastically? Odds are no! You allow that perceived failure to begin to shape your narrative. The message you tell yourself about where you belong and your worth. STOP IT!
Failure allows you to see how strong you are. The work and dedication you put into something to get to the point you are at, even if it isn't the point you want to be at. You still had to do something to get there. Use the strength and courage it took for you to start to rewrite your journey.
There is no doubt that failure doesn't feel good. It is raw and often painful. It makes you begin to question the steps you took to get to said point. Use this questioning, this curiosity, to move you forward. You have what you need to keep going!
My hope as you read this is that you do not allow any set backs or re-routes of the plan affect your narrative. You own your narrative. You own your messages of self-worth! You can write your own story and trust me, you have the power to do it! Failure isn't the end point. It simply isn't. It is the point in the road that you pause and regroup. You find the backroad that wasn't clearly marked on the map. You get out of the car and begin to walk instead of drive. Or better yet you RUN! Repeat after me, "Failure is not the end point."