No Success and Without Failure
By LMReviews on Feb 24, 2009 in Multicultural Writing, Writing/Freelancing
No matter what your pursuits, societal convention sets the focus on success rather than failure. We often attempt to avoid the negative aspect of everything, often to the point of admonishing the pessimists and naysayers. As with anything, in order to grasp the full concept, you must understand its opposing force. This substantiates the old adage of “taking the good with the bad” or the idea of you can’t have the Ying without the Yang—well the same goes with success and failure. One cannot exist without its opposite. Each has its benefit. Lessons are learned from each, but the biggest lessons come from our failures as we learn what not to do. We learn how to change course and arrive at a different result. We may still fail, but the reason for that failure is different and the lesson it provides is different as well.
As we put fear aside and follow our pursuits, we must recognize that neither success nor failure is a permanent state of being. Whether you fail or succeed, continued progression is required. If you fail, you can’t remain at a standstill, well the same is true of success and failure. Once you’ve reached it, the way in which it is defined changes. Success no longer remains defined as “getting published” or making a certain salary. It may morph into getting on a bestseller’s list or reaching a higher salary. Success is a series of milestones and failure should be viewed in the same manner.
