Do I Really Have to Fail?

When was the last time you failed at something? 

Yesterday? Today? Five minutes ago? 

Congratulations! 

You might wonder why anyone would congratulate you for failing, but here's the thing, my friend--it's time to embrace failure because it is not your enemy. Failure is the only way you can eventually succeed--at anything. 

Stay with me here. I could share stats on lots of famous people who failed miserably before they finally struck it big, but I would rather talk about you. What do YOU want to accomplish? Let's start with . . . hmm . . . fitness goals. 

Let's say you want to lose 20 lbs, and you just keep failing. What have you learned from each failed attempt? What knowledge have you gained about how to lose 20 lbs, about what doesn't work? What have you learned about yourself? What have you learned about what is really important to you? How much closer are you to losing 20 lbs? You may have even decided you don't want or need to lose 20 lbs any more--isn't that good to know? Look at you! You are so much closer to what you want to do and who you want to be! Each failure served an important purpose. And what if you knew it would take 101 failures for you to finally lose 20 lbs? Would you have such disdain for your failures then, or would you just get busy failing? 

What about motherhood? Oh man, that's a role in life we certainly don't want to equate with the four-letter-word "fail," am I right? Yet, we do it all the time! Why? Are we really failing? And what if you are? How many real "fails" do you experience in a day? 5? 10? 20? 100? If so, you must be an incredible mother! Why? Because you are actively engaged in the role of motherhood! You are in the trenches. You are doing it! Nobody can fail that many times who isn't "in the arena." But you are! 

Way to go, mama! 

And what have you learned from those fails? How you don't want to discipline? How much patience it might take to potty train your two-year-old? That nagging isn't very effective? Fabulous! Thank heaven for failure to help you recognize those things. You are molding yourself into the most incredible mother! 

So, the next time you feel overwhelmed by your failures, try this. Look deeply into your eyes as you gaze in the mirror and say, "If it takes one million failures to get it right, that's OK. I'm well on my way! I'm doing it. I've got this!" 



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