We live in a culture where many of us do all we can to insulate ourselves (and our families) from experiencing any type of failure. I often wonder how this phobic avoidance of setbacks impacts our growth and maturity…
Yesterday I came across a great piece titled “Why You Need to Fail” excerpted from a book titled Fully Engagedby John Busacker… the article ran at Relevant Magazine. Busacker quotes one of my favorite books – My Losing Season by Pat Conroy — and makes some great points about the necessity of failure:
“What is your relationship with difficulty, setback or failure? When you are honest with yourself, is there any influence in your life more powerful at forging your beliefs and inspiring your full engagement than failure?
In Pat Conroy’s book about his dismal basketball season at the Citadel that saw only eight victories in 25 games, he observes:
‘Loss is a fiercer, more uncompromising teacher, coldhearted but clear-eyed in its understanding that life is more dilemma than game and more trial than free pass. My acquaintance with loss has sustained me during the stormy passages of my life when the pink slips came through the door, when the checks bounced at the bank, when I told my small children I was leaving their mother, when the despair caught up with me, when the dreams of suicide began feeling like love songs of release. Though I learned some things from the games we won that year, I learned much, much more from loss.’
The crucible of loss forges the crucial resilience that fuels a consistently fully engaged life. Adversity introduces us to ourselves…”
Read the rest of the article here: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/whole-life/features/26303-why-you-need-to-fail
You can purchase Fully Engaged on Amazon.com here: http://www.amazon.com/Fully-Engaged-How-Less-More/dp/1609361156