“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of equal or greater benefit.” – Napoleon Hill
When you think of a successful person, what kind of individual comes to mind? For a while, I thought of a successful person as someone who never faltered and excelled at whatever he or she put her mind to. I never considered failure to be a big part of success. I do now.
We have all heard the common and borderline-cliché saying that “nobody is perfect”. Despite this, many of us constantly try to achieve perfection. We suppress our failures and hope that nobody finds out. We are afraid to take risks and get out of our comfort zones because we are so deeply afraid of the potential for failure. Constantly hiding from failure is simply delaying the inevitable. In life, you are going to make mistakes. Bad things are going to happen to you. You will sometimes feel as though you’re fighting an uphill battle, and that’s okay.
Adversity makes us stronger. It makes us fight harder. It forces us to put things in perspective. It is hard to realize this when you are in the middle of a hard time. There have been times in my life where I have felt hopeless and ashamed of the mistakes that I have made. I know how devastating these feelings can be and how it may seem like it will be impossible to recover from this setback. But you can recover.
It’s not impossible. It may be hard, but you can overcome. The past does not define us, but how we respond and grow from it does. There is no going back and there is no such thing as a second chance. Don’t even bother considering “what if” scenarios. Accept what happened and focus on tomorrow. Use your failures to become a better person and your struggles to become a stronger person. Learn from your mistakes and learn how to handle failure. Never stop fighting for your happiness. You can overcome even your darkest times and become an even greater person than before. You will get through this.