Positivity: Failure

For some, failure is the thing they fear the most.

For some, there is nothing more awful, more terrifying, more negative than failure.

Failure is not a negative, unless you choose for it to be. Failure can be, in fact, quite the positive.

Yes, this runs counter to much of the beliefs our society holds. We always hear about the success stories, we are always striving to be successful in our endeavors. As such, we hold up success as an ultimate source of positivity. And conversely, we hold up failure as an ultimate source of negativity.

But that is not the truth. Sometimes the greatest positivity can be generated from failures.

Some of the greatest inventions that we use every day were the result of a failure. Penicillin, the pacemaker, potato chips and the Post-it Note were all the results of a failure to produce something else intended. And yet it can be argued all of these things changed our world and helped shape our lives.

Yet we still view failure as negativity, when in fact failure can be quite the positivity asset. When we fail, we generally come away with a life lesson, and we learn something new. When we fail, we open a new door to possibility, and from that failure can come a far greater success than anything we had initially set out to achieve.

Certainly I will not deny that this feels counterintuitive. We are taught that failure is not an option, that failure is a bad thing, and so we come to see it as negative. But the truth is that failure can be incredibly positive. From failure we can gain insight, we can gain new strength, we can learn more and uncover greater depths than we might have previously imagined.

At the time of the occurrence of a failure it does not seem positive. Usually it will feel negative, it will feel bad, it will make you unhappy. If you choose to hold onto that, then it will remain negative. But there will be a lesson to come of that failure, and that can be an incredible positive. It does not matter if the failure is a job, a relationship, an invention, or an idea. You can still find positivity from failure, because there is always another way, another option, another opportunity. And that is what positivity is all about.

Sometimes it’s a matter of perspective.

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action. Knowing that failure need not be a negative, unless you choose to see it as such, can open numerous new doors and show different opportunities. When we allow ourselves to fail, and recognize that it could produce a greater success than we intended, we can build a much more positive life. The more we can see failure as simply a matter of life, and an opportunity, and not a vehicle for negativity, the more Positivity we can create. Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.

This is the twenty first entry of my Positivity series.  It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone.  Feel free to re-blog and spread the positivity.