Daughters,
You'll find here that most topics I write about aren't necessarily the fun "things" to talk about; failure in general falls into that category. But here's the thing about failure, once your past the initial feeling of it and on the other side even, there is so much good that comes out of it. I promise you. In fact, as your mother, I am not afraid of you two failing at all; I am however, afraid of you two giving up or being too afraid to even try. Life and people in general will knock you on your ass (earmuffs) that I can assure you. Sometimes people will even follow up with another "beating" in order to make sure that you stay down. But, if there's anything that I hope to pass onto you both besides kindness, is that you wont ever give up. Always get up! Know this, I'm too stubborn to give up. This is when being stubborn is a good thing! If I have ever stopped trying it's because I have re-directed my attention to something else. I'll be honest, a lot of the time I try something just to see if I really like it or if I really don't like it. I feel this nagging guilt if I write something off that I haven't even tried before. Trying it at least gives me a sense of peace. When I try something and I give up its because I have come to the conclusion that it's just not for me. If it is something that I like or want, then I'll try again and again until it practically kills me. Don't ever tell me I can't do something in other words! You'll soon discover what works for you too, I hope. But let me go on to explain more about failure...
Failure is just an event. It is not a characteristic. People can't be failures.
-Judge Victoria Pratt
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.
-Eleanor Roosevelt
Every painful misstep I've made has been a stepping stone to a better me.
-Marie Forleo
What do all of these women have in common? Failure. -They all rose to the top of their game by failing first. But the key part to their failing is that they didn't give up and saw it as a growth opportunity. They didn't let their fear of failing take over either. Marie Forleo goes on to say that the word FAIL, really just stands for Faithful Attempt In Learning.
My hope for you both is just an understanding in failure and that all it ever is, is a learning and growing opportunity. I appreciate Marie using faithful attempt, because having faith means that your trusting even though you don't know the ending result, and attempt is simply just trying. The truth is, there's not one instance in my past where my failed attempt or wrong action didn't eventually lead to something good and useful. All of my failures shaped me into who I am today and far more than when things went right the first time. Sure, there are things I have failed at that I wish I could take away or do differently. But even those have made me a better person. I have no doubt your failures will too-
Mom
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