How to Embrace Failure

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No one particularly enjoys failing.

As humans, we try to avoid situations where we could potentially fail as much as possible.

However, with failure comes growth and new learning opportunities.

If we never failed, we would not grow.

We would instead stay stuck in our ways, and it would be difficult to expand our thinking.

This is why growth is not found within our comfort zones. 

Did you know that there are ways you can embrace failure in order to not be so afraid of it anymore?

Read on for some helpful ways you can embrace failure.

Stop replaying the entire situation in your head

Replaying the situation and feeling anger towards yourself is a dangerous form of self-sabotage.

You cannot go back and change the past, so really this is just a waste of time and energy.

You should reflect on what happened, but there is no need to torture yourself just for whatever happened.

Let the past go and give yourself grace for the outcome.

You can move forward from anything.

Think about what you would do differently in the future

This is where the reflection piece comes into play.

Every failure is a learning experience.

If you messed up, think about what you would do differently should you ever be in the same position again. This can mentally prepare you for difficult times that are bound to happen in the future.

If you don’t take the time to think about how you could create a better outcome for yourself in the future, then you are seriously missing out on personal growth opportunities.

Related Reads:

• How to Be Mindful Throughout the Day
• 8 Ways to Hold Yourself Accountable
• How to Recognize and Stop Self-Sabotaging Yourself

Have a strong support network

Embracing failure is easier when you know you have a supportive group of people that always have your back.

You need people in your life that believe in you and reassure you that you are doing great, despite some bumps in the road.

These people may be family or close friends, and they should have your best interests at heart.

Lean on your support network when you feel like you cannot overcome failure on your own.

Remember your why

There is an underlying reason why you are going to continue the things you are doing, whether you fail or not.

Write down this why and reference it frequently.

Why does it bring you joy?

What is your overall, bigger goal?

Why did you work so hard to get here in the first place?

Your why should serve as motivation for you to move through the messy middle in order to get to where you want to be.

If you cannot think of your why then your priorities may need to shift (and that’s okay!).

You can still take the lessons learned from this failure with you throughout the rest of your life.

Journal out any frustrations you have about the situation in order to move on

Failure can bring up a whole lot of emotions like believing we are not worthy, we will never be successful, and we should not trust ourselves.

These emotions can feel heavy and severely impact our lives in a negative way.

A healthy way to release these emotions is through journaling.

Journal out any of your negative emotions and frustrations in order to remove them from your mind, and then move forward.

Gather inspiration from those who failed early in their lives, and then eventually ended up achieving great things

Not all successful people had it easy from the beginning of their journeys.

In fact, for most, it was those early failures that defined the trajectory of their success.

For example:
– Walt Disney was told he lacked imagination from his former newspaper editor.
– Thomas Edison’s teachers thought he was stupid.
– Oprah Winfrey was fired from her first job as a tv anchor.

Their failures eventually led them to bigger and better things.

The failures were important parts of their stories, just as many failures you encounter are important parts of your story.

Write down any lessons you learned from this experience

There are positives that come from every failure, and those are the lessons you learn along the way.

Be sure to write down and reflect on lessons learned from your failures.

Did you learn to be more careful about your money?

Did you learn that you have to get more sleep in order to handle your packed schedule?

Do not overlook these lessons, for they are the keys to your growth.

With every failure comes more motivation and strength

Use every failure as a small bit of motivation to propel you forward.

Sure, whatever just happened maybe did not go according to plan, but doesn’t that fact fuel you up to try even harder next time?

With every failure, you get a little bit stronger and more resilient.

If you can learn to embrace failure, then you truly have nothing to be afraid of. 

Consider this failure as part of your journey

Just like Walt Disney, Thomas Edison, Oprah Winfrey, and so many others, this failure is simply a short chapter in your book of life.

Surrender control to the universe and know that every failure is just a part of your journey.

It is a sign for you to move in a different direction or to make some shifts in your life.

If you never failed, you would never learn and grow.

One day you will be very successful looking back and laughing about this particular failure.

Final Thoughts

We need to stop looking at failure as a negative thing and instead view it as an opportunity to constantly improve ourselves.

Embracing failure teaches you to be honest with yourself and love yourself through the good times and tough times.

The more you are able to enjoy every single step of your journey, the more you can live a fulfilled life.

Take these tips with you so you are able to embrace failure in your life.