Elvis Montero

Failure to lunch

At 25 years old, I have had my fair share of failures. In retrospect, I think I have failed more than I care to remember. Recently, I have had two colossal debacles that made me waste a few good night’s sleep, money and, most importantly, time. Strangely, unlike other fiascos in my life, I felt I sabotaged myself. While I was hastily working and trying to find my way around in these new ventures, I kept thinking how I was going to fail miserably. I realized that I, at a very deep and unconscious level, wanted to fail intentionally. You may wonder what is the reasoning behind this seemingly half-baked, not to say idiotic, way of thinking. Well, here’s the reason why.

A couple of years ago, I decided I was going to dissect every failure of my life and see why I didn’t make the grade. The exercise was illuminating. The  whole thing lasted no more than 25 minutes, but it was an amazing experience. I kept doing this sort of postmortem every time success managed to elude me. I usually just sat down and asked myself: Why did I fail? What elements precluded me from success? What can I do differently next time around? After doing a few of these reflective sessions, I came to the following cliched, albeit entirely accurate, conclusion: failing is not tantamount to failure.

Source: unsoundtransient’s photo stream via Flickr

So, do you get it now?  I have learned that, time after time, the best teacher in life is called failure. Failing is OK, provided you get back on track and keep pushing forward. The experience and perspective you get out of failing surpass, greatly, all the sagacity you could gather from your triumphs. Subconsciously, I knew I would learn much more if I just failed and retook the undertakings with a renewed frame of mind. So I automatically fell down, stood up and continued. I am far from completing any of my two endeavors yet. But, I’m more confident now. I think victory is finally within reach.

There’s no doubt I’m going to fail a lot more down the road. Heck, I’m still young. However, that’s not going to deter me from pursuing what I believe is right in life. I will never stop trying. Neither should you.

“A man’s life is interesting primarily when he has failed–I well know. For it’s a sign that he tried to surpass himself.”

Georges Clemenceau

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.”

Robert F. Kennedy