This blog is going to dive into the idea that failure is a perspective. It is something I have recently come to understand and firmly believe.
I strongly believe that a lot of aspects in life are perspective. Such as suffering, stress, talent, happiness, beauty success and failure. Failure as we all know is deemed by “a lack of success” well, what if I told you I also believed that success was perspective too? What is a lack of success? I’m sure if we asked a wide variety of individuals that question those answers would vary. I’m sure if we also asked that same group of individuals what success is, their answers would also vary. Why is that? Because we all view success and failure through a completely different lens. Success to one person may be having a corner office, their dream car, no children & a million dollars in the bank. However, the next person may say that success would mean they have their family near to them and enough food to eat. Material objects set aside, success & failure are going to mean very different things from one person to the next. This all has to do with the individuals life experiences, beliefs, trauma, etc. Failure to some may be not sacrificing everything to achieve their version of success while failure to others may be sacrificing everything in the first place.
Think about this, when a relationship ends with someone we love, whether that be romantic, friendship, a family member etc. More often than not we perceive it as a failure. Why is that? Why can’t we allow things to end without deeming it failed? What if those relationships were there to teach us very valuable lessons but needed to move out of the way for bigger blessings to come into our lives. What if they were detrimental to our mental health and breaking free was actually a success. What if a marriage that lasted for 15 years wasn’t failed, but it was simply time for those individuals to part ways. What if the majority of those 15 years were a success but they grew apart. How about when we start a new job. We all fear failing, right? But what if we start that job and it’s not good for us mentally or physically. Maybe It’s not a good fit for us or we’re not making enough money at that job? Why does that make it failure to quit or even be fired? Why don’t we perceive that as a curve in our path leading us to success.
I think so often we associate failing to when we don’t perform in a job, relationship or our own lives the way we pictured in our heads. However, the harsh truth is that we all can’t be good at everything and every person we love can’t be the one for us. The journey to success is going to have ups and downs. However, I believe that if you start shifting your perspective to “what is next” or “how can I learn from this” instead of labeling things as failed, it will drastically change your mindset. My take on failure is we don’t ever fail, we just keep progressing towards our own version of success.
Thank you for reading,
Xx