Embrace the Failure

I’m starting a project at the moment, a children’s book for a self-publishing author, and I was suppose to start a week ago, but have continually put it off. Over the days I would sit there and try to figure out what was stopping me from truly starting this project. Trying to discover the reason behind one’s motivations and also their hesitancy has always been like solving a jigsaw puzzle to me.

That’s when I dusted off some teachings from school. Things that professors have told me day in and day out, but that can only really be learned through experiencing it.

I’m afraid of failing.

I’m afraid of setting my foot out the door, into an unknown, where I don’t have sure footing and I can’t predict the end. I hesitate because I’ve failed so many times before with my art and since this is a legit gig I feel like failure isn’t really an option. So I’m taking the time to analyze my fear when logically I know that failure is something that needs to be embraced, not something to run from.

Failure is as much a tool in your arsenal as your paintbrush. It teaches you what works and what doesn’t. You can use past experiences to further light the unknown around you and it helps inform your actions in the future. Failure stings and humiliates, it’s never pleasant to experience, but it’s absolutely necessary to endure if you wish to be successful in any endeavor.

Success is the phoenix that rises from failure’s ashes.

The thing that will set you apart from others, is the fact that you picked up your bruised and bloody self from the ground and you kept on fighting. Others will feel that sting of failure, feel the fear as they fall, and they will give up. They will give up the chance at living an amazing, fulfilling life and instead will continue on a unremarkable path, afraid to take that step onto an unknown path.

This isn’t something I say lightly. And I think, not something to take lightly either. Failure is a very real obstacle. It is a serious component that I believe professionals face as if facing a dragon in battle. And like battle, facing failure needs strategy.

Take a moment out of your busy life, if you need to, go somewhere quiet and out of the way. Be brutally honest with yourself and find strategies that will help you deal with failure. Make a step by step if you need to on how you react when failure is upon you and how you can turn it into something that fights for you instead of fighting you.

“Unfortunately, there is no comfort level with failure. An artist mustn’t see it happening and blithely accept it as part of the process. It has to hurt or it’s not really, actually failing. Failure is complete and utter. It’s awful and it sucks. But if you honestly taste the sting, then you are tasting the clues of success.” - Greg Manchess