Failure or Growth? It’s Up to You.

Tree on a Summer Evening Painting by Addie Hirschten

This past year has been a year of significant growth for me. I began the new year with some lofty goals of rebranding my business and starting a membership program. This involved getting clear about what my mission is, and who it is I want to help, and then building a new website and developing a program to offer. It’s been a lot of work. As I look back on my year, I am exhausted just by observing it. My re-branding and the new website are beautiful and so authentic to me and my work. I love them! But, the membership program overall was a pretty big disappointment and not nearly the success that I thought it would be for myself or for the women I was hoping to serve in it. I can focus on what was unsuccessful and view it as a waste of time and a failure to grow, or I can view it as an opportunity to learn more about myself and the people I serve.

Do you have something you worked hard on only to see it not come to fruition? I’m sure we all can relate as failure is part of the shared human experience, but does it have to be? I believe it only solidifies as a failure if we hold onto it in our minds that way. How we choose to think about it is more important and determines the course we set for ourselves. I have a choice in front of me. Do I beat myself up, give up, and get stuck where I am? Or, do I use it as data, to inform my decisions in moving forward? The choice is mine.

When you feel yourself stuck on a failed attempt at something, potentially even beating yourself up and judging yourself for it, I encourage you to do what I’m doing right now, in this moment. I’m sharing my story. I’m admitting defeat to myself and to you. I’m embracing the fact that I am not perfect and nothing I ever put out into the world will be perfect. I’m choosing to let the voice of criticism go. I’m choosing to Lean into it and Learn. Sometimes, the Universe has bigger plans for us than we have for ourselves. So….from me to you, Here’s to the Journey! It’s not always easy, but it is more often than not, totally worth it.