The longer I live, the more I realize the impact failure has on my life. It does not define me, but it has molded me into the person I am today. Failure to me is the greatest lesson of all and is formed from every mistake, loss, and defeat. Hardships and struggles are when growth happens the most. We all make mistakes, but it’s how we come back from these mistakes that truly matters. Each time we are faced with a problem, we have a decision; we can stay stuck on it, be negative, and not allow ourselves to heal, or we can pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and rebuild from the ground up with a positive attitude.
We are all flawed and no one is perfect. Even failure is faced with the same decision, for example failing and exam; one could ether study harder, get more help during office hours, and become determined, or accept defeat, give up, and NR the course. What happens in life is not as important as the reaction given to it. No one says it better that Charles R. Swindoll, "I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes". This is a quote that my high school field hockey coach used to say to us before every game and still has an impact on me today. It is important to be mindful of your attitude and to turn your failures into positives. It's much easier to be a negative person and to take self pity on hardships. It is okay not to be okay, but a positive outlook and attitude will help defeat the issue at hand. It's much more fulfilling to look back on a struggle and see how far you've come and how much you've grown.
Some things are simply out of our control, we fail and never even get the chance to try and prevent it. These are when our positive attitudes are most important. Sometimes, failure can be nothing but bad; failure will beat you down if you let it. So keep that in mind next time you make a mistake or feel deflated. The lows in our lives are what make the peaks of the highs so beautiful. It's an uphill climb to be a positive person and to learn from failure, but the only direction to go is up.
