Your Mess Is Your Message
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising up every time we fall.”
--Confucius
If you’ve been on this planet as long as most of us have, you’ve probably experienced more than your share of heartache, setbacks, sadness, health issues, money worries, loneliness and personal despair.
Life can hurt pretty bad sometimes. It can also feel so beautiful.
Truth is, our lives are puzzles in contrast. We cannot know love without loss, feel joy without pain or the see the light without experiencing darkness. No great victory is won without defeat, nor great success achieved without failure. Here are five examples:
1. Walt Disney had multiple business failures before “Disneyland.”
2. J. K. Rowling endured multiple rejections until “Harry Potter.”
3. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.
4. Abraham Lincoln suffered several defeats before being elected President.
5. Nelson Mandela became President of the country that jailed him 25 years.
Now, here are five lessons failure taught them and can teach us:
Failure is a “learning opportunity”. Mistakes provide valuable lessons that contribute to personal growth and development.
Failure “normalizes imperfections” by reminding us that everyone makes mistakes. “To err is human,” is more than a saying. It’s fact.
Failure makes us stronger. “Resilience Building” and overcoming failure builds character and gives us tools to better face challenges in the future.
Failure promotes “Innovation and creativity”. Many breakthroughs come from trial and error, leading to innovation and creative solutions.
Failure leads to growth. “Self compassion” after a setback promotes better well-being and guides us to more positive and constructive approaches in our future endeavors.
A good friend who is a teacher says he always tells his students, “It’s not the mistakes we make that define us, but what we do after we make them.” Our mistakes and setbacks are our teachers and our mess is our message. What we overcome we learn from. All we have to do is look for the lessons, so we don’t have to repeat them.
--Susan