Failure To Launch…Yay?

I am a firm believer in failure.

Failing is good.

Failing is important.

Failing is normal.

Everyone fails at something. Everyone is bad at something. Everyone can get better.

But for whatever reason, we as a society don’t encourage failure enough.

We don’t celebrate it enough.

The older we get, the more afraid of failure and rejection we become and the more averse we are to it.

Jia Jiang discusses the fear of rejection and the pursuit of rejection over the course of 100 days.

He actually pursued rejection.

It’s such a backwards pursuit because we are constantly trying to escape rejection and failure.

We don’t like being told we are not good enough.

We don’t like being told, “No”.

We don’t like feeling like a beginner.

But because of that, there’s almost a societal shame associated with inexperience — which is complete unjustified.

Jia Jiang challenges that view with an authentic and straight-forward acknowledgement of the circumstances, the oddity of his requests, an acceptance of and almost embracing of rejection and is instead met with trust, acceptance and surprisingly, a helpfulness from others for his cause.

He is able to turn skeptics into believers. Turns critics into supporters.

He learns about the possibility of success in his requests, how to overcome the inner dialogue and doubt that we grow up learning, and minimize the anxiety surrounding rejection.

Personally, I still struggle with rejection. But it is something that I try to embrace - because I cognitively understand the benefit. It still is a visceral fear that I have to struggle with constantly in order to grow but I know that each rejection I get, every uncomfortable situation I find myself in will not be as bad as I think it is.

And if it is that bad, I’ll still gain something worthwhile by going through it.

Kinda like the hero character who has to go through his trials and tribulations before emerging with new skills and new perspectives to handle the problems better.

Heroes never immediately handle every obstacle perfectly. They need to fail, need to recognize their weakness, need to struggle and grow, and then finally come back to the trials and conquer them to reach new heights.

Similarly, you are protagonist of your own life. You have to face your struggles. You have to branch out and gain new skills or acquire new abilities to better adapt to the challenges you will face.

Embrace the struggle and the challenge as part of your main character quest. See it as part of your story arc and something that you will lead you to greater heights, more skills, and the potential to accomplish whatever you want.

Happy failing everyone!