Failure is a privilege we should all take advantage of.
This time of the pandemic has been filled with failures — personal, professional, communal, global — and it is time we start to reframe the way we think about and respond to them.
I have spent most of my life fearing failure — believing it is a sign of weakness or a testament to low self-worth. Everything I did had to be perfect (or as close to perfect as it could be). I expected A’s in every class, success in every venture, and for every plan or intention to be idyllic. If I set off with a goal or idea, there was little to no flexibility and changing course seemed like the furthest thing from possible in my mind. After all, if you get it right the first time, why should anything have to change?
Looking back on it, it seems ridiculous! To expect everything to be perfect is already bonkers but to think it should be that way right out the gate?
It takes Everly tens…even hundreds of times of trying something before she has mastered it. And do I get mad or think she is somehow less worthy because she has “failed” along the way? Absolutely not! In fact, seeing her respond to failures is one of my greatest joys in being her mom. I can see her learning patience, studying her mistakes, adapting, and pivoting as she continues on her journey. But for some reason, that excitement and leaning into failure gets lost on us as we get older.