What I've learned about failure thus far

My trip to the library the other day consisted of picking up 4 new books that I was eager to read. One was a pre-planned selection, one was a book that I had decided I wanted to read earlier this summer, but never got around to it, and the last two were totally selected at random.

I chose the last two for the sole purposes of inspiring myself. I'm all into being inspired and after last week's horrible funk, I was still recovering from shaking it all off.  Things were getting better in my life and the bad times were slowly, but surely turning into better days. One of the books I picked up is The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives by Katie Couric.  I usually read the inside flap to determine if I want to read the book or not, and I was instantly sold to check it out. The introduction was also well written and drew me in as Katie explained what life for her has been like and some of the challenges she faced. She also talked about how she landed her job with ABC news when she was only 22 years old.

Basically, it started with her sending her resume and getting no response. Then it went on to her going up to the station, dressed to impress, and boldly requesting to talk to a man who could hire her. She was turned away by the receptionist. Desperate times called for desperate measures and she finagled her way in by calling someone who knew someone who knew the man she wanted to speak to and BAM...she was in there like swimwear for a chat with the head guy!

On Instagram the other night, Jordin Sparks posted a photo of herself back when she auditioned for American Idol and talked about how she was turned down at the LA audition, but was determined to try again regardless. She then went to audition in Arizona, won, got sent to Seattle for a second audition and made it. Her words of encouragement are: "I wouldn't be where I am today had I walked out that LA stadium with a quitters attitude."

Then there are the failure stories of Michael Jordan who didn't make the high school basketball team, Bill Cosby who performed in a big time night club for the first time and was told "YOU STINK", Dr. Seuss who was turned down time after time by publisher after publisher refusing to give his books a chance, and the list goes on!

It seems as if everyone I know or know of who is successful, has failed time and time again while trying to get to success. This basically tells me one thing about failure: it happens!

Things don't always work out the way we want them to.  We don't always get it right on the first try. If you quit, you'll never know.

Unfortunately, failure sometimes causes us to lose hope.  Sometimes we get down on ourselves and feel like we'll never get a break or things won't ever let up.  I have learned that it's ok to wallow in your disappointment, but when you get down, don't stay down! You've got to get back up and try again.

Failure is an inevitable part of success. With every success story, there is many stories of failure to accompany it. And the best part of it all, is that when you finally succeed, the victory is that much sweeter!