Big Sister Advice #15

Starting this year, in addition to the Q & A, I’ll offer you some general words of wisdom, or stuff to think about, as you find helpful.

On Failure

Failure is hard. So much so, that if I gave you a moment, you could come up with at least one catchphrase you’ve encountered that eschews failure — “I don’t fail, either I win or I learn” etc. But we need failure. It allows us to reset and recalibrate. It allows us to get creative about the ways that we approach solving problems.

Failure gives us the gift of possibility. If the way we can think of approaching the situation doesn’t work, how many other ways could we imagine to approach it differently?

Failure allows us to lean into our community. If I can’t figure it out on my own, who can I ask for help? How can I ask for help? This lets the people in our lives show up for us in ways we do not expect.

Failure teaches us resilience. If I put all my chips into one basket and nothing pans out, I can still recover and rebuild. It might be an end, but it is not the end. In these situations we get to learn our limits, and to also push them further.