So, you’re on that trajectory you had planned out a couple of years ago. Brilliant! But then, life throws you a curveball and you stumble. It’s hard to reconcile that ups and downs are natural and expected. However, the faster we reconcile to it, the easier adapting to those shifts will be.
Change, as Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, is the only constant in life. Failing forward, which is failing with an intention to learn from it, is the best way to deal with change.
Growth isn’t linear: There will be times when you’re at your best and you’re exactly where you saw yourself in that five-year plan. Looking at your current trajectory, you’re bound to see success! But then, life takes a different turn. You would see people leave you, people join you, your circumstances change – the path you are on now is completely different from the one you envisioned. Ups and downs are both natural and expected. The faster we accept it, the easier it will be to adapt to those shifts.
From failure to success is a function of time: Nothing comes easy and that includes learning how to do something well. This could be in terms of your relationships, your work, your education – anything. Success takes time and even then, you never stop learning. You move to greater levels of success and failures will be, rather have to be, a part of the journey. And good journeys take all the time they need.
Failures end where getting back up begins: When we fail, it might feel like the end of the world and we start to generalize, waiting to see when we mess something up again. We’re not made to always match up to the expectations that we, or others, place on us. We need to learn that failures open us up to opportunities to learn. Remember – it’s getting up after the fall that determines your life.
Failures are reminders that we are human: Humans are flawed; to err is to be fully human. Perfection is an ideal and even if we do achieve it once in a while, consistency is difficult. It can get overwhelming when you are faced with a string of failures. You will need an open mind and determination – human characters, too – to tackle them; you might just surprise yourself with what you achieve!