Bouncing Back From Failure

I am used to excelling; doing great at most of the things I try. I stay in my comfort zone until I have perfected whatever it is I needed to perfect before moving on to my next challenge, so I’m not used to failing at anything that I try because I have prepared myself to the utmost best. So when I do fail at something I’m hit with the reality that maybe I just don’t know the things I should know and therefore not prepared for the hard knocks that failure puts in my way.

Let me give you some context: I had a telephonic job interview and for some reason the lady on the other side of the line was just not cutting me any slack. From the first moment I picked up the phone she was all no nonsense and straight to the point. About ten seconds into the interview I knew things were not going well after that it was just a rush of talk, her trying to explain to me as calmly as she could how unprepared I was then a few seconds after that I heard the distinct slamming of the phone in my ear. My heart I believe stopped for a moment, then the shock came first, then the rapid beating of my heart and eventually the tears that would flow for about a full hour. I cried so much my head hurt for a while. I’d never fell apart like that before in my life or rather I should say I’m not used to falling apart like that.

After a few hours I managed to just barely pull myself back enough to write this blog post. I first had to talk to a friend who made me acknowledged that it was ok – correction it is ok to fail. That doesn’t mean it gets easier when you fail at things but curling up into foetal position to cry over a failed venture, a failed job interview, a failed relationship or whatever it may be doesn’t make the failure go away any sooner. If anything it makes the failure more real, because while curled up in foetal position you keep replaying the scene over and over again in your head; the things you should have said, the things you should have done, how you could have handled it differently but all that will only make the ache that much more prevalent.

I'm not over the failure of crashing and burning at a job interview but I have resolved not to dwell too much on it. Dwelling on it won’t change what took place and it will most defiantly not change the outcome of the interview. It is important to note that crying and acknowledging the hurt and pain that come with failure is important. I cried until I felt like I had no tears left but after that it is important to note that; life unfortunately does not come to a standstill when you hurt it keeps spinning.

What is important now is to figure out how I bounce back from this failure. So I’ve resolved to do the one thing I haven’t been doing much of lately…PRAY. It won’t take the hurt away but it will help me keep moving without holding onto past mistakes like they were arrow ready to take aim at me.  That is just my way of dealing with it; you must find a way that works for you in order to deal with it. Letting failure take a hold of you is dangerous because one of two things can happen: one you stay where you are and don’t try new things for the fear of failure or two you are cautious of everything never taking risks because you’re afraid of what awaits you on the other side of the world. I choose to keep moving even during this really craze time I chose to move to keep going because staying down is not an option.

My prayer: Father help me to not only see your blessings only when good things happen but also when bad things happen. I may not understand and it may hurt when I’m going through it but I pray that I may stay faithful to your word though everything. Amen