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Why Are We Afraid To Fail?

January 14, 2020
Adrienne Bulinski

I fell off my mountain bike on Saturday. It happened on the accent as I was coming out of a hairpin turn. I don’t even know what happened except I was slammed to the ground. My feet where still hooked to my pedals so my kneecap was delighted to take the weight of my body (holiday fluff and all) into the sharp rock protruding from the earth. I ripped my pants (glad I was wearing some) and I had road rash across my knee. My kneecap was screaming at me that it was worse than it looked, but I rubbed some dirt on it (quit literally) and hopped back on my bike and kept riding.

Today I was wondering what is worse: to try and fail OR to not try and have perfect skin? I do NOT have perfect skin and I’m cool with that. What I would like to have more of is TOUGH SKIN and the only way to get tough skin is to challenge the skin you have.

This got me to thinking about failure. Why are we afraid to fail? For me it is rooted in other people’s opinions. When I fell on the trail, well, that could have been considered a failure. BUT I see it as a step to becoming better. Now, if I would have fallen in front of a crowd of people my pride would have taken a whole different beating then my knee (b/c truth be told it wasn’t even a tough hairpin turn).

This got me thinking: is failure rooted in other’s opinions or is it an internal thing? I realize that my definition of failure is in large extent associated with other’s opinions… as my dad has told me time and time again “opinions are like butts – everyone has one and they all stink.”

Why do you, or do you not, attempt something in your life?

Don’t give someone in the nosebleed section a VIP pass to your efforts.

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