“The one good thing about failure is that it makes you consider doing things a different way.” ~ Marianne Williamson~

When I read this quote by Marianne, I could relate to it.  But I didn’t  care for the word failure.  I looked back at some of the things I had done that  I would have called mistakes.  To call them failures would make me feel as if I did it all wrong; I was stupid, dumb, and unintelligent for a moment.  We all make mistakes, but are they failures?

You hear parents call their children failures.  Husbands, wives scream it at each other.  “You’re a FAILURE!”   How degrading and demeaning that sounds.

So why do we use the word?  “I failed my test.”, “I failed at my job.”, “I failed at life.”   How depressing and self-defeating.  As a teacher, I never use the word fail.  A child only needs to hear that once before he/she feels like they can’t do it.  How about, “you made a few mistakes on your test; let’s see if we can figure out why?”  Or, “My job is giving me some trouble, maybe I should ask for help.”

And then when it comes to life, the old adages pile up – “I really screwed up”, ” I really messed up this relationship.”, and the best one, “Can I start over? I didn’t quite get it the first time around.”

So we don’t always do it right the first time.  The hope is that we learn from that and do things a different way the next time.  Learning from our mistakes, (Not failures) is how I like to look at it.  I know for some of us, it takes more than a few times to get it, to start over, to learn.  I’ll be the first to admit I’ve been there:)  And not too long ago:)

So in essence, no one is a failure, some of us just take a little longer to get the picture!  As I tell my students, “We all learn things at a different pace.  Wherever you are at is okay with me.”

Take a look at your life.  Do you keep finding yourself in the same rut, same hole, or same kind of relationships?  You’re not a failure.  You just need to change it up!

Life lessons are usually the hardest to grasp and learn from.  You can do it!

Keep moving forward!

Kimberly Rae