FAILURE

“The road to success is paved with failure”

  Tough times, pain, exhaustion, stubbed toe, tummy ache; Most of us seem to have this assumption that it’s going to be easy. Easy is probably the wrong word, as I do not think anyone truly believes that change, or accomplishing goals, will ever be easy.

Unfortunately, a lot of us take these tough times as reasons to quit, or as signs that this is not something that we were meant for. We think that if it were, then why would it be so tough?  If this is what I was put here to do, then shouldn't the path be clear and easy?  If only that were true. More times than not it is going to be more difficult than you could ever have imagined; why do you think so few ever stay on the path? The problem is that you just don't know what will happen, and you never will—unless you keep going, or you quit. 

            If I have a goal, and stay on the path to accomplishing it, yet never get there, am I a failure?  

Just getting started can be seemingly impossible, although it actually tends to be easier in the beginning when you have a lot of momentum and motivation. It is not until you have been on the path for a while that the journey truly starts to break you down. All the miles, all the setbacks, the pain and injuries, they really add up and each one only amplifies all the previous. That is when you find out what you are really made of and whether or not you want this badly enough.   

Even if you never make it, you are closer than you were when you started. The only time you ever truly fail is when you give up. I know how much simpler it is to just quit, especially after you have already done so much. To just sit back and say, “Well, I'm miles away from where I used to be and I've done more than I ever could have dreamt, this is good enough, I can stop.”  

For me, even some minor failure becomes that much more exaggerated because of everything else that I have already gone through. That one small set back gives me a moment to sit there and dwell over the countless other ones that I've already had. The damage that has accumulated over the years and the things that I have had to overcome can really wear me down. Yet at the same time, I can use that knowledge to motivate and push me further. It’s just a matter of how you apply it. Looking back, I would not change a thing; yet, while I was going through some of those times, I begged for mercy.   

Just like anything else, it is not a question of whether or not these things will happen—they inevitably will, regardless of whether you pursue your dreams or just settle for something else. It is a question of if you are going to let it break you or let it motivate you.   

I would rather go after my dreams with everything that I have and fail than succeed at giving up.

  No one who has ever accomplished anything significant had it simply handed to them. I can guarantee that you can go back and look at anyone's history, who you view as successful, and find that their path was riddled with more failure and struggle than you could have ever imagined. Unfortunately, most of us never get to see or hear about this side of success, we only get to witness the end result. If people really knew what it takes to make it, it would completely alter their perspectives.   

Realize this: if you want something badly enough then you are going to have to prove it. You are going to have to work for it, kill yourself day and night for it, sacrifice everything for it and yet that still may not be enough.

Nothing will be given to you, and when it comes down to it you will be grateful that it wasn’t. You don’t truly appreciate something until you have broken yourself in order to achieve it.

If you want something, then prove it. You must have, or develop, a “no quit attitude”, no matter what. Show how much it means to you, what you are willing to go through and what you are willing to sacrifice in order to achieve it. There should be nothing in this world that can take you off your path, because if there is believe me, it will happen.   

One day you will realize that all that pain, all those bumps in the road, everything you had to endure, is what made you strong and showed you who you really are. If this is what you want, if this is your dream, then keep going, never quit, never surrender. There is no pain in this world comparable to that of giving up! Accept that pain and failure are all part of the process and you are truly free to do anything. Face your fears, live your dreams!