Are you a failure?
Failing - even repeated failing - does not make you a failure. Your choices to date have determined your direction so far; but it is choices you make from now on which can give you a better future.
You know Joanne Rowling, the first self-made billionaire author? You might not know that before she wrote the Harry Potter series, she had to deal with the 10 year illness and then death of her mother, divorce from her husband, the inability to find a steady job, and life as a single parent living on benefits? She was depressed and contemplated suicide. Her first manuscript was rejected by 12 publishers. She is a woman who knows failure. Watch what she says:
As Joanne Rowling says,
You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.
Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above the price of rubies.
The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more than any qualification I ever earned.
“It is impossible to live without failing at something”
Take heart from Joanne Rowling's experience and words. You might have failed through gambling stuff away, you might have lost a lot of money, time, you might have sabotaged close relationships, you might be in a mess.
But failing does not mean you are a failure. It is your response to this situation that will define who you are. Will you wallow in self pity, or will you decide to make rock-bottom your foundation?
