Does Failing Make us a Failure

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Right from our childhood, through adolescent into our adulthood and even into our golden twilight, it is constantly and consistently drilled within our psyche that it is bad to fail and that we must not fail. That to fail proves we are worthless. The society, including our parents, educators, peers, etc forbid us to fail. We are not challenged to fail. In such a world how can we excel when we are not allowed to fail!

 

I have always labeled my so called failures in mountaineering (failing to reach the summit of a mountain) as the highlights of my climbing bio. My so called fails are actually my best climbs. Since through them, due to my inability to reach the summit, I always learned something new, refreshing and worth learning about myself, about the mountain, about the weather, and certainly about life in general. When we fail we continue to learn. Success often kills our willingness to learn.

 

To quote one of the greatest geniuses and inspiring persona of all time, Thomas A. Edison, who said ‘I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.’ Or when he failed nearly 1000 times before he invented the light bulb, he is believed to have said to someone, ‘I did not fail, invention of light bulb has 1000 steps, and I simply took those steps one after another.’

 

In almost a similar spirit, once someone had asked me if he could climb Mt Everest, and I said, ‘most certainly you can, but are you willing to undertake the million steps that lie between you and the summit?’

 

Failing is a good thing, sometimes even desirable, but merely by failing you don’t become a failure. To fail is momentary, whereas you become a failure when you give up and pack your bags and leave with a crushed spirit, dead dream, saddened mind and a broken heart.

 

There’s a definitive difference between those who succeed and those who don’t. The former is not afraid to fail so she is more daring, willing to risk and experiment and most certainly will never give up. The latter on the other hand is afraid to fail so she is timid, overtly cautious, staying totally within her known limits and capabilities. And at the slightest trace of failure is ready to give up.

 

Failing doesn’t make you a failure. You are only a failure when you accept that you have failed and there’s nothing much you can do about it.

 

Fail by all means, be a serial fail if you must, but keep going, keep stretching your limits, keep pushing, keep exploring, keep on going.

 

Or adopt my definition of failing: It is SUCCESS with a different outcome than the one you had expected or wished for. Simple!

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