Today's society is obsessed with success, which often makes us think that failure is shameful. Therefore, we hide our faults and show our achievements. Sometimes the feeling of loss can be overwhelming and we come to believe that we are worthless for having failed. This is not real, it is a temporary emotional state and unfortunately resisting it only produces more suffering. We can try to evade, but this is not a solution either, since in the end it will not make us feel better. What we can do is accept it and take advantage of that moment of introspection to learn from our failures. Finding a usefulness to negative experiences is one of the keys to success. In the words of Napoleon Hill:
"Every adversity, every failure, every anguish carries with it the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit."
If recently things have not gone as expected and you need some help to put things in perspective these 4 hidden gifts after the failure will change your way of perceiving this experience:
1. Failures help you to realize what is really important.
When everything is going well it is easy to take things for granted, we are accustomed to this level of comfort, to become capricious or to dedicate ourselves to self complacency. However, when we are going through a bad time, we are forced to question our priorities. A failure can put our feet back on the ground and make a sincere assessment of whether what we are doing is in accordance with our values, priorities and well-being.
2. Failure allows you to start over.
Thinking about starting over from scratch may seem like an uphill road that we would not want to have to walk. But if once again instead of resisting we devote ourselves to the task before us, we will realize that starting over gives us the opportunity to be beginners again with all the enthusiasm, spontaneity and wonder that implies. If you persevere eventually you will find new opportunities.
3. Mistaking is part of the learning process.
If you take advantage of the experience of having failed in something, then you will realize that there are many lessons to be learned. Surely if you had to do it again you would do it differently. This is perfectly normal and is the reason why all innovators have come to what made them famous only after many failed attempts. Failure is not a cause for shame, it simply means that you are human.
4. Failure means you have had value.
Basketball player Michael Jordan, a legendary athlete, once said he could accept failure but found it unacceptable not to try. When we start something we do it with the best intentions, with enthusiasm, we put our resources into it and often our hearts too but we do not know what will happen and nobody can give us guarantees about the future. We simply take calculated risks and that requires value.
We all want to be victorious, but part of the human experience includes facing and accepting that this will not always be the case. Although in the end that should not make us miserable, since in the words of the spiritual master Paramahamsa Yogananda:
"The season of failure is the best time to sow the seeds of success."