Tough Times Are A Beautiful Thing

Mistakes, accidents, failures & tough times are a beautiful thing — unknown DA

In every endeavour, I’ve always set out to do my best, yet always scared of making mistakes for fear of the shame & the taboo that’s associated with failure and underperforming. Gratefully, my win/loss ratio has skewed in my favour, nonetheless, I’ve of course made many mistakes, had accidents, failures & hit tough times. Until recently, I always felt great shame if those situations arose, mainly because of what people would think of me & how society has shaped us to view someone who’s made a mistake or who’s come-a-cropper.

However, given that I always tried my best & set out with high intentions, I knew that all I had to do in order for the same issue to not be repeated, was to establish the difference between what I had done, e.g. a failed attempt, versus, what a better way might be. Then apply that difference on the following attempt, to achieve a different outcome.

Overtime, as I repeated the practice of analysing issues & applying changes, I began to view mistakes, accidents, failures & tough times as OPPORTUNITIES, because they forced me to leave the path that I thought I should follow, to do something different. Taking a different path, suddenly revealed something new to me, or taught me something more interesting than what I was doing. Consequently, this gave me new insight & was proof to me that we “can and should” be open to change things on an ongoing basis, as it keeps one’s journey fresh, not stale. Moreover, I realise that I’ve learned more from my “failures” than my “wins”, which I argue, transforms my failures into a “win” too, right?

Therefore, so long as your intentions are clear & positive from the outset, mistakes, accidents, failures & tough times should be viewed as “opportunities” for a change to something better. Therefore, it’s not how one falls that matters, it’s more about how you get up & what you do with the new information, that make issues a “beautiful thing”.