Failure can be painful but it is necessary for growth and success.
For most of us, failure is a subject we don’t find easy to discuss. It’s painful, it’s disgusting, it’s depressing, and in some cases, it’s life-threatening even. The bad news is that failure will always be part of life. It’s bound to happen and as careful as we would like to be, it is unavoidable.
We’ve all tasted defeat and we probably will fail more in the coming days and as bad as that may seem, we can’t deny the fact that failure has its benefits so instead of seeing failure in a bad light, let’s all consider failure as a necessity.
It helps you build muscle
We’re all familiar with the NO PAIN NO GAIN mantra. If you want to remain strong, you certainly won’t become one by sitting around all day. The more painful your workouts are, the stronger and tougher you will get. Failure works pretty much the same way in that it helps you develop the muscle to withstand future setbacks that are waiting to happen
It helps you grow
Every failure we meet has an underlying lesson that comes with it and with the right mindset, we can use each of these failures to our own benefit by learning from them and making sure that we avoid making the same mistake again. Every successful person failed more times than we can ever imagine. The difference between them and those who did not succeed is that they used the lessons they learned from their failures to fuel their success.
It brings out the best in you
When you’re back’s against the wall, you will do just about anything and everything to get out of your situation. Like a mouse backed into a corner, you will look for ways to escape thereby igniting your creativity and ability to think of a solution at the shortest time possible. This is no different from going broke or getting fired from your job. If you’re up to the challenge, you can get yourself out of your predicament.
You can’t appreciate success without failure
Every success story begins with a failure. Whether it’s a disease, an accident, a divorce, or bankruptcy, people have demonstrated time and again that such adversities shouldn’t stop anyone from reaching success. Success and failure go hand-in-hand. Once cannot each without the other. You can’t determine how good a piece of cake tastes without experiencing a bad one.
It helps you develop grit
Going through so many setbacks help develop grit and/or resilience. It helps build in you a no-quit attitude and persistence to continue to move forward until you reach your goals. You become battle-tested and you won’t let any failure, big or small, get in your way.
Time and again, we’ve been mesmerized by stories of people who overcame HUGE adversities and become influential figures in their respective industries. People like Tony Robbins who started out broke but is now one of the most sought-after motivational speaker and coach. People like Oprah Winfrey who overcame a tragic childhood to become one of the biggest media moguls in the World. People like Robert Downey Jr. who overcame drug addiction to regain his life back and become one of the most successful Hollywood actors to date.
These were ordinary people once upon a time, just like you and me, who went through identical situations we all go through today but they didn’t let failure define them. They used failure as their motivation instead and we all know what happened next.
Failure will never go away. It’s part of our lives whether we like it or not and instead of resisting it, the best way to go is accept them and embrace them because just like food and clothing, failure is a necessity.
Originally published at medium.com