Failure leads to greatness
September 11, 2009 by gingerw
Filed under Anything Goes, Interpersonal
September 11 has a very different connotation for me than for many of you. Today is my 10th wedding anniversary. Sadly, that relationship is over- it ended a little over a year ago. I have to admit, there have been many moments where I felt like a failure for not being able to complete the dream.
I am not a quitter. When I do something, I put my heart and my soul into it. I hate the idea that I failed at this. Becky McCray posted a timely post today with quotes about failure. Micah Baldwin was quoted as saying: “failure isn’t about “not winning” it’s about heart wrenching actions leading to fundamental change.”
This year has definitely been a year of heart wrenching fundamental change for me. I have always lived my life with passion. I have a burning desire to conquer things and make the world a better place.
Yes, I failed. In a big way. But I have also learned so much this year about who I am, what I want, what I need and really- most importantly- what I can do. Sometimes those big failures are the catalysts for the seeds of change that will create our biggest successes.
Today I might cry over the loss of a fantasy and a dream I might have had ten years ago, but I am also going to pop open a bottle of champagne and celebrate the future that I am creating.
“The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire. Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch”
We aren’t defined by our failures and losses, we are defined by what we do with them. When I look back at what I have accomplished in the last year and a half, I am pretty darn proud of where it started, and what I accomplished personally, professionally and for the world we live in together.
I have so much more I want to do. So much more that I can do. It is the lessons that we have learned from our losses and failures that give us the strength and the wisdom and the courage to do great things.
Pop a cork with me and celebrate our future. You define your future, your year and your life.
Set your soul on fire. Find your passion. I am.
Todd Carpenter on Fri, 11th Sep 2009 12:08 pm
Consider this my virtual toast. I’ll be drinking to your future tonight.
Mike Mueller on Fri, 11th Sep 2009 12:20 pm
Failure? I excel at it! LOL
With every failure (and with times like these there’s plenty around) we need to step back and examine what happened and how to make it better in the future. That is very different from dwelling on past failures.
Seeds of change is right. Let’s hope we all strive to become better in the future (at what is important to us).
: )
karen hartline on Fri, 11th Sep 2009 12:27 pm
Thanks for sharing something so personal with us. I subscribe to the thought that its not failure, it’s a moment to learn, grow and change!
I’ll pop champagne with you!
*cheers to the next year!
K
cindy lin on Fri, 11th Sep 2009 12:44 pm
HUGS. Here is a virtual toast from me! Thanks for sharing your story!
XOXO,
Cindy
Christian Sterner on Fri, 11th Sep 2009 12:49 pm
Give me death before average.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man[woman] who points out how the strong man[woman] stumbles, or where the doer of deeds there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself[herself] in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he[she] fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his[her] place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat,”
Teddy Roosevelt, “The Man In The Arena”
Speech at the Sorbonne
Paris, France
April 23, 1910
Lori Bee on Fri, 11th Sep 2009 12:52 pm
Right there with you on this one girl. A virtual ((HUG)) in your honor and a virtual toast to NEW BEGINNINGS. Where one door closes… another opens.
Love ya.
Lori
Sarah Cooper on Fri, 11th Sep 2009 2:49 pm
Ginger, you did NOT fail. You learned. You corrected. You started again when you needed to, and I know it hasn’t been easy – and I have always been so proud of you!
ESTELLE on Fri, 11th Sep 2009 5:21 pm
Ok G,
You are such a sexy, successful, sassy, spicy, stupendous, stylish, sparkly, skyrocketing, stellar, and STRONG…..
SUPER ROO!!!!!!!!!!!(Not Subaru)
It seems to me that you were the one that claimed some of these characteristics for your own….were you not?
Hang in there, the best is yet to come!
Love ya, Estelle (and Chloe too!)
Steve Mattison on Fri, 11th Sep 2009 8:30 pm
Ginger, a very wise person has been quoted to say, “You are not a failure until you give up and quit.” So have to disagree with the idea that you have failed, as long as you haven’t quit, you haven’t failed my friend. Keep on keeping on, you can’t see the valley till you make it up the hill, and You Will!!!
tony lazzari on Fri, 11th Sep 2009 9:14 pm
Been there, felt that, learned more about me and what I can be. A dream ended, life didn’t. Celebrate the unleashing of Ginger!
Dale Chumbley on Sat, 12th Sep 2009 1:07 am
(((Hugs))) Stay Gold…
MIssy Caulk on Thu, 17th Sep 2009 7:02 am
We have all been there, and look how many times Abraham Lincoln failed, Michael Jackson didn’t make the basketball team, Lucille Ball didn’t get into drama school.
Look what they became. (((hugs)))
Becky McCray on Tue, 29th Sep 2009 7:29 am
Ginger, thanks for taking those quotes to heart. You’ve revealed a truly meaningful story, and I’m glad you did.