the f word

Let's talk about failure.

Failure can feel like defeat, frustration, loss, heartbreak, pain, embarrassment.

The best way I can define it is standing on the edge of a wobbly diving board, making a gigantic leap...and belly flopping.

Sometimes, there is a bit of failure everyday - from not receiving the right text back, or missing the mark on a goal. Sometimes it takes a birthday, or big milestone to analyze where we dropped off the map, or became inadequate to achieve.

Last year, I read Brene Brown's, Rising Strong after going through multiple changes in my life. From health to relationships to career, I had a few "rumbles" as Brown likes to call them.

Whenever I go through a failing or disappointment of some sort, I go back to Brown's book. Her insights on giving yourself a break, and truly being vulnerable are invaluable. Brown explains:

Via Amazon.ca

"You can do everything right. You can cheer yourself on, have all the support you can find in place, and be 100 percent ready to go, and still fail. It happens to writers, artists, entrepreneurs, health professionals, teachers—you name it. But if you can look back during your rumble and see that you didn’t hold back—that you were all in—you will feel very different than someone who didn’t fully show up. You may have to deal with the failure, but you won’t have to wrestle with the same level of shame that we experience when our efforts were halfhearted" 

Rising Strong is about the lesson of perseverance in the face of failure. It's about doing the best that you can, and realizing that everyone fails at some point. It's a positive reminder to always strive to give your all, because in the end, that's when we recover from failure the easiest.

For anyone facing a rumble, read more from Brene at http://brenebrown.com or check out Rising Strong. x