The Failure That Frees You

How often do we avoid failure by simply not trying at all?

Hmm, in my life, I would say this happens quite often and likely more than I care to share!

To take that a step further - is not trying at all still even avoiding failure?

...or is this just another subtle flavor of failure?

Yesterday I read a brilliant quote shared on @neeqi's blog that sent me into the deep depths of introspection:

“There are two kinds of failure. The first comes from never trying out your ideas because you are afraid, or because you are waiting for the perfect time. This kind of failure you can never learn from, and such timidity will destroy you. The second kind comes from a bold and venturesome spirit. If you fail in this way, the hit that you take to your reputation is greatly outweighed by what you learn. Repeated failure will toughen your spirit and show you with absolute clarity how things must be done.” – Robert Greene

Have you ever thought about failure in this way?

I'm certainly familiar with both situations Greene expressed here, but the way in which he compared the two really got me thinking...

What if we were brought up to think in this way?

What if when we were children, we were presented with an opportunity to mingle with failure in a completely new way?

Personally, knowing this early on would have likely changed everything...

Have you ever failed because you simply were too afraid to try?

As I try to connect to an experience like this, my mind seems to move into a place of denial.

It seems as though my mind is sometimes even afraid to admit that I'm avoiding something...

I guess that must be why it's so easy to spend our lives, not living at all!

Yesterday I was lucky in that I exposed a glimpse of my fear before it dissolved into a void of denial...

It had to do with the Blockchain Improv class that I'm creating.

The thoughts I captured went something like:

What if the class ends up sucking?"
What if this ends up being something too big for your plate?"
Is this even a good idea?

Although these are all valid questions, they simply can't be answered by not doing.

Interestingly enough, these are also the exact same types of questions that would inhibit me from trying new things in the first place!

Thus, yesterday when I read Greene's quote about failure, I realized the inevitable truth:

The only way to truly learn anything is to try.

More often than not, trying leads to failure, but it's a different type of failure right?

As Greene said, it "will toughen your spirit and show you with absolute clarity how things must be done.”

That's a great kind of failure if you ask me...

However, in this situation, if you associate your worth with any kind of result or expectation...

Then you're setting yourself up for a world of hurt!

And how often do we do THAT!?

Too much!

Nowadays I really do try my best to detach from my expectations.

It's great to have goals and intentions.

You should always shoot to do and be your very best.

But ultimately, if you're really putting yourself out there...

If you're really confronting your fears...

If you're really pushing your comfort zone...

Then more often than not, the experience will exist far beyond of any conceptual understanding that you could ever come up with on your own.

We know what we know...

We know what we don't know...

But we don't know, what we don't know.

Failing through experience oftentimes brings light to the things we did not know that we didn't know.

If I were to define that experience right there I would have to call it evolution or expansion.

If every thought we have is an association to a prior experience, than a new thought would require a new experience.

This is an evolution of thought, isn't it? An expansion of the mind!

This new thought could in turn, open a gate to an entirely new realm of thoughts and thus...

What began as a simple fear, opened a door to a new galaxy of opportunity.

You are shown something beyond what you could ever imagine.

And now it exists with you forever!

Is there something in your life that your mind is trying to hide within a cauldron of denial?

If you can identify what that is, grab it off the stove now before it evaporates into thin air!

For that fear, that discomfort, that FAILURE... is the path.

And a galaxy of new understandings and realizations awaits you.

Open the door!

And follow the fear!

Thanks For Stopping By :)

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The Failure That Frees You | Ecency