Failure is Part of Life

If I was to ask you, "what do you remember, your biggest success or an epic failure?" Some people will find that question easy to answer, others will not have a response. I am not sure I can even answer my own question.  The one thing I do know in regards to my life, some of my biggest lessons were learned from my epic failures.    

Once again, I am going to refer to Rachel Hollis.  She said, "don't be afraid of failure, be afraid of never achieving anything because you were afraid of what others might think of you if you failed". To her a dream is something you hope for in your life.  A goal is a dream with work boots on. She believes everyone should have a goal. Having something to work towards gives us purpose.  

                                       

This is perhaps the most famous quote by Wayne Gretzky. It can be applied to all aspects of life.  Wayne's words are to inspire others to take risks if you want to be successful. He felt that there is no success without taking chances. You need to give your best shot to be able to make it big. Without effort you will not be able to make any progress. 

"The day I stop giving is the day I stop receiving. The day I stop learning is the day I stop growing. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take".

I appreciate Wayne's words and reflect on them in my own life. I doubt there is anyone reading this that has more thoughts flying around in their head than I do. I constantly think of ideas, for various reasons and then I don't do them. I think it is because I am a dreamer. I have come to realize that for the most parts my ideas are something I don't need in my retired life. That doesn't mean you stop taking shots if you are a dreamer. It just means you need to think, do I really need that in my life right now? If the answer is yes, go for it. 

There are people that try new things, and nothing works out for them. Then, there are people that are magical in making everything work for them. In other words, they "land on their feet". Do some people have that bad of luck that nothing works out for them or are they unable to do what is needed to make it happen. I believe success is often driven by the people you know, or the contacts that you make. An example of this would be my friend who raised a massive amount of money to develop a ball diamond. She contacted companies such as Boston Pizza and the Toronto Blue Jays to support her cause. To me the sky was the limit for her, and I admire how she went to the top, or what I deem the top. Was she successful, she sure was. It made sense to her to make those contacts, for me I don't have a rolodex of people to connect with, nor do I even know how to develop one. I would have been very unsuccessful in fund raising for a ball diamond. Now if you want a social event planned in thirty minutes, including decorations and food, I'm your girl.

It appears, to become successful you have to devote a tremendous amount of time to the cause. You have to give up things like family time or social events. You have to have a village of people that want you to be successful and make it possible.  The village includes a supportive partner that is willing to step in and do the parenting alone, be responsible for meals and all those things that were formally a shared responsibility. You must be prepared to fall down and pick yourself up and do it all over again.

Are you the best version of yourself?  Do you even know what the best version is? The depth of this question is massive. I feel it hinges on your purpose or passion. For most of my life my purpose and passion was to heal people or help them face their death. That purpose is not something that is in my life anymore. When I started this blog, my hope was to encourage others. It was to state the obvious as a retired person, a former professional, businesswoman, friend, mother, grandmother and the list goes on. Little did I know that writing would bring out the best version of myself. Not only has writing been therapeutic, educational and fun, it has calmed my soul. Just knowing someone will laugh, cry or simply feel connected is exactly how I want you to feel. In closing, I want to say "Thanks" for being part of helping me develop into my best version.