Redefining Failure by Likhitha

What do you think of when you imagine failure? 

Many associate it with a negative connotation. Society has led us to believe that the end goal is everlasting success. Avoiding failure at all costs. 

But is failure always disastrous, or can it be an opportunity for growth?

Society likes to characterize people early on, and when you don’t fit into certain categories, they label you an outlier. 

Albert Einstein was branded “mentally slow” and the greatest basketball player, Michael Jordan was cut from his high school team. Thomas Edison was “too stupid to learn anything” and failed 1000 times before inventing the lightbulb. 

People want to hear incredible stories of success, but many geniuses were not so different from us growing up. 

Being able to achieve greatness comes with many difficulties. Woefully, we have been taught by society that mentioning our imperfections is a sign of weakness.

When we fail the first time, we’re made to feel unworthy. We’re placed into categories that restrict our abilities. 

This warped ranking makes people have irrational expectations and discourages them from asking for assistance or taking chances. 

Society ignores the repeated failure required to succeed because we tend to focus on final achievements rather than personal efforts. 

An article on Medium reminds us that, “Failure can be discouraging and scary. Repetitive failure, even worse. But that’s what makes our eventual success absolutely delightful!” 

Dare I say that success means nothing without failure. 

We all hear stories of success and how people fail multiple times, but we fail to recognize how much perseverance it takes. Many successful people discuss the challenges and obstacles that they face, but do we grasp the idea of how many times it took to conquer them?

When you start to experience personal setbacks you can remember how truly amazing these remarkable people are for not letting failure pigeonhole them. 

The only moment when you have failed is when you have given up. 

Giving up allows the idea that setbacks are a sign of an ending rather than a pause. This glorifies the idea that success comes easily. 

When you think this way you  stop progress, allowing one difficult instance to determine what happens next. But failure is only temporary; there is always a chance of success.

Winston Churchill reminds us that “Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” 

Many people do not even believe in failure; it is merely a philosophy to them not a reality. 

What about you? How would you redefine failure?