You know, there are times when life appears to be going too fast.  We wake up early, only to feel as though we’re already late.  We work harder, only to feel behind.  We try harder, only to feel that we’re failing.

I’m not sure it’s a common feeling among all socio-economic, regional, etc lines, but in America, it’s all too common.  We see the unemployment rate rising and we start to look in the mirror:  am I next?  Will it be me standing in the enemployment line, waiting for my handout?

At base, we’re a people who pride ourselves on making a go of it and succeeding.  We aren’t programmed for failure.  That’s part of the problem; failure is a part of life.  For many, failure is a part of EVERYDAY life.  They live a daily existence where the other shoes is constantly dropping, and it’s dropping into the same old hole.  Again and again.  It’s certainly not fair and there’s really no easy explanation.

For those of us who are used to succeeding, the answer is easy:  try harder and you’ll succeed.  For those who are used to failing, the answer is much more grim:  no matter how hard you try, you’ll NEVER succeed…..so why try?

Who is right?  I believe it’s a little of both.  It’s really about momentum.  Those who have ALWAYS succeeded have a tendency (in the physical sense) to keep so doing.  It’s like a ball that is rolling down the side of a hill.  It’s constantly moving.  Sure, it will come to rest at some point, but up til then it’s been in constant movement.  On the flip side, those who have always failed also have a tendency.  That tendency is to think about life, and each situation therein, as one expected failure after another.

In the end, how we think about ourselves and our lives is a major deciding factor of how things turn out.  It’s not 100% so, nor event 50%.  There’s no formula for success.  What IS true is that our mindset and how we think about life IN A CONSISTENT WAY, colors the way we approach situations and hence unconsciously guides our actions.  Taking on obstacles as one more stop along the way to success directs our actions in ways that TEND to be more conducive to overcoming those obstacles.  The opposite is also true:  the more we EXPECT failure, the more we TEND to in fact fail.

Is life difficult?  It certainly seems so. As a matter of fact, it’s SO difficult at times, that to force ourselves into failure by our controllable reactions is LUNACY.  However, in reality, Life is really NOT any one thing.  Life is as it is.  Life can be beautiful, difficult, fulfilling, crushing, and the list goes on.  So much of how we experience life is a matter of embracing it and loving it as it is.

Could it be that the old adage is correct?

‘It’s not whether you fail, but what you do with the failure that counts.’

take care,

Brett