Why Falling is Not Failing

The sweetest victory is the one that’s most difficult.

The road of life is long, until you reach the end and look back, then it becomes surprisingly short.

The road of life is not smooth and we cannot see the end.

The road of life is bumpy and you may (and will) trip, fall, and stumble many, many times.

The bumps and bruises you accumulate along the way are worth it because success, built upon the stepping stones of failure, are the most triumphant and memorable of all.

You may even take a wrong turn, have to work backwards, until you find the path which is right for you.

You may even get so overwhelmed with all the choices, effort and and struggle that you decide to sit down and not walk for awhile.

That’s okay, for a moment or two, but be careful…some people stay in the same spot for too long, the paths before them crumbles, the wind whisks away its destination and their journey ends where they are sitting.

To achieve your personal best, to reach unparalleled heights, to make the impossible possible, you can’t fear failure, you must think big, and you have to push yourself. When we think of people with this mindset, we imagine the daredevils, the pioneers, the inventors, the explorers: They embrace failure as a necessary step to unprecedented success.

So stumble…but someone might see? Who cares?

Fall…but others will judge? Let them, at least we are trying.

No one likes to fail, and that makes perfect sense. Failure doesn’t feel good, and it usually costs us a sizable chunk of money, time, and dignity. On top of that, comebacks are exhausting.

Take the risky path because you know that you can always retrace your steps back to here, if you need to.

You will never travel a wrong road; each step brings us closer to where we were meant to be.

That is why the worse thing we can ever do is to stop stepping onwards.

Stepping in shit, in the wrong direction or going backwards is better than staying still.

As Winston Churchill said, “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”

Staying still is where the poison can leech in and dismantle us, piece by piece.

People will always judge your journey, others will tell you that you are not trying hard enough or that you are not reaching your potential. Do not listen to them; tell them to focus on their own journey and you will do the same.

I would rather be the one on the road, being ridiculed than be the one on the sidelines, observing, judging and mocking, all while standing completely still.

Those who do not move, have the time to judge. The vines wrap around their legs, making them secure in their stance, thinking that the comfort of the restriction is right.

Those who are moving do not have the time to do anything other than to lend a hand to help someone who may have stumbled beside them.

“No human ever became interesting by not failing. The more you fail and recover and improve, the better you are as a person. Ever meet someone who’s always had everything work out for them with zero struggle? They usually have the depth of a puddle. Or they don’t exist.” — Chad Harwick