Dealing with Failures

Life is uncertain, precarious, full of dangers and risks. Everybody who dares the ascent must risk the danger of fall. While it is good to take cognizance of the risks and exercise vigilance, it is important to be equally careful that this danger and risks involved do not turn into fear and paralysis of action. All human ventures that involve breaking free from the comfortable cocoon of our lives to the great ascents whether of the mountain summits outside or scaling the inner heights entail certain degree of risk. But without this there can be no progress. The very first moment of birth, nay from conception onwards dangers and risks follow our lives. It is for this reason that each one must face to some degree our own share of failures and falls. The difference between human beings however lies in how we deal with these failures.

At one extreme are the outright pessimists who take the slightest failure as an indicator that everything is over. They take failure to be final not realizing that failure is final only if we accept it as such and stop striving again. In fact failure is to give up within. The truth however is that as long as there is effort and the will to try again, there is hope that one would ounce back and through these successive efforts draw closer to success. There are those on the other extreme, the born optimists who never give up hope. They hold on to hope and faith as a most precious of treasures. Indeed, even if all else has collapsed faith and courage are the two qualities that can rebuild a world and save the soul alive. A balanced approach however is to learn from failures so that we are equipped better for the future. To give up is of course the worst choice but what can be done is to carve out an alternate route for oneself, in the same direction or else in another direction which though aligned to one’s core goals yet looks at it differently and strives in a different way. Equally one can lower the scale and instead of leaping across the stairways of life take small steady steps on the way. All this is possible provided the will and faith are intact, the will to arrive and conquer regardless of obstacles, and the faith that one can. Once we take that attitude then obstacles become feeders to our determination and sharpen our strength. Failure itself becomes a stepping stone on the way, not a backward slip but taking a few steps backward to prepare for a greater foxrward leap.