“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might has well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.” –J.K. Rowling
It has always struck me as interesting, that in my life and the lives of others there is such a pervasive fear of failure. Of course I think this is largely a natural reaction. No one wants to fail. Why? It’s because it hurts; it maws our confidence and shatters our hopes of success and accomplishment. However this fear also reminds us of failure–and even the slightest potential of it–whenever we embark upon something new. It paralyzes us in monotony and keeps us from doing anything at all for the simple fact that: we don’t want to fail. So we try with everything within us to avoid this failure. Often times this means that we simply don’t do anything at all because we perceive it to be too risky. This feeling has prevailed in my life for many years and I believe that it exists in many others’ as well. Society has become failure adverse–or rather, we have forgotten that failure can often times be the foundation for success.
That is not to say that we should strive for failure. Rather we should be striving for success. However somewhere along the way there will be a point where we may fail. It’s in these times that we need to remind ourselves of our goal and drive away any discouragement we may have. Failure is not the end and ultimately I think there is something so profound in the statement. How many actors would there be if they had given up when they messed up a line, or missed an action, or struggled to get into character? How many authors would there be if they had given up after the first time their book was declined, either by a agent or a publisher? How many people would’ve been successful at all had they not pushed through their failure? Not a single one. Even Thomas Edison, when creating the light bulb, failed. It took him ninety-nine tries before he finally figured it out. It took him ninety-nine times to succeed. But he still, ultimately, succeeded.
Success is not precluded nor overshadowed by failure. Many times failure is actually a new avenue for success. Take the Edison example above. Though he failed ninety-nine times these failures helped him to eventually achieve success. Although light bulbs have changed over the centuries, if it weren’t for Edison’s perseverance through failure and the invention of the first light bulb, he may never have succeeded at all. The point is that the only true failure in life is not failure itself, but being paralyzed by the thought of failure; to a point where one remains in apathy. An apathy not necessarily generated by laziness, but rather the apathy that comes from fear. Doing nothing is defeat itself. We always have to remember that failure is not the antithesis to success, it’s simply the process of working toward it.
In the picture above the landscape is being consumed by a looming wall of fog. I felt the picture appropriate because fear can be like that wall of mist. It rolls over the beautiful forest beneath keeping it locked and suppressed underneath its stifling cloak. It makes us fumble and lose our way to the point where we can’t get out. We’re so afraid of letting others share in the beauty of that forest because we’re worried they won’t like it at all. So often times many have kept that fog over their forests. But today it’s time to throw out the fear of failure. Today, it’s time to let that forest’s beauty shine to the world.
A Thousand Steps on a Pathway 