This is Day 13 of a 31 Day Challenge. To catch up on the previous posts, click here.
Today I took a literal stroll down memory lane as I retraced the stomping grounds of my college years. I reminisced on my walk to and from class, my old apartments and roommates, the classes I took. The memories came back softly, a kind reminder of a fun time in life and a transformative one too. When asked if I would change anything about that time, I could think of a few decisions I would like to change, but then I paused. "The Butterfly Affect, though..." and trailed off.
So much of our lives are a accumulation of what has come before to bring us to the now. Mistakes and successes, hardships, loss, change. A life can undergo so many things that to change just one can set of a completely new series of events for the future. If you didn't take this class or date that person, who would you be, who would you know, where would you go?
Thinking back on my journey, the hardest days of loss and struggle have been the most formative. The moments I've fallen were sometimes more of a catalyst than some successes. So if the mistakes of life hone, sharpen and round us, why do I (we) avoid them?
Selah.
The vein of my writing for the last few days has kept circling around this idea of mistake and fear. They are as attached as Siamese twins; it's hard to separate the two. However, the more I examine this strange case, it becomes clearer that it's possible. Life without fear is possible, probable even.
Here's to a successful surgery to separate fear from mistakes. Cheers!
The observations of a stranger so take with a grain of salt. You seem to have a lot of posts about fear and always doing 'the right thing.' The fear is always surrounded with failure. You don't want to fail. Would it be too conceited or arrogant if I tell you "I never fail?" And not because I am in any way better than anyone else; it's all about perception. You seem to view failure as a clear cut black and white line when I suppose I view it as a mindset. To fail is "to end without success." One goal you've mentioned is to write a book. Say you pick a degree and it didn't help you write the book. Did you fail? Not necessarily. Only if you END it there. If you think 'awesome, I just learned so many new things, made so many new connections, met so many awesome people, and pushed myself farther than ever before' and now focus on the next step to your book, how can that degree be failing? You only fail if you END. So don't ever end on your dreams! As long as you keep on trying, you CAN'T fail; by definition. So I say I hardly ever fail and it's only because I'll keep trying. I'm a fighter. According to your last post, you are Earth and stubborn so based solely off that, I know you won't quit. Therefore, you can't fail. And you can't argue with logic. So go try something! As long as you're trying, failure will never be an option. It's in that moment that you END that you have failed. And Earth doesn't end; it's a pretty solid place.
ReplyDeleteYou have a very keen eye. Struggling with a fear of failure is definately a part of my daily life, but I love your perspective on what we should see as failure. Seeing mistakes or not meeting a goal not as a mistake but as a success is freeing. Difficult for me to do but freeing.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your encouragement and your insight.