Fall Down, Get Up, Repeat

Every time we try something new, we risk failure. Every single time. It doesn't matter what it is, we will succeed or we will fail.

Sometimes the fear of failure is paralyzing. You make excuses, put it off. Will you push through or give up?

It's a conundrum.

Whenever I feel like I just can't do something, that I am doomed to fail before I even get started, I make myself remember watching my babies learn to walk.

Every single step was the one that would lead to a fall. Every stumble was the one that could lead to a bump or bruise.

Did that make me choose to carry that child around for the rest of his life? No.

More importantly--did it make that child WANT to be carried around for the rest of his life? Absolutely not.

All my babies grew up and walked on their own. They still walk. Sometimes they run.

Heck, so do I. It's not pretty, and it hurts like hell, but if I have to run, I can do it.

It's easy to point out that babies learning to walk have less distance to fall than a grownup person taking that first step towards triumph or failure, and that is true enough. I certainly wouldn't like to be taking my first steps at this stage of the game.

But my father had to when he broke his femur. My mother had to when she had her knee replacement surgeries.

They got up and took those steps. And when it hurt, they did it again. That is triumph.

I have had my triumphs in life. And God knows, I have certainly had my failures. But even those things I tried and failed at were things that led to other triumphs.

I did not excel at marriage. I tried, but failed. However, during those trying years, I gave birth to beautiful children. I raised them into beautiful adults. Now they have given me beautiful grandchildren. That is triumph. And those things happened because I tried something and failed.

I tried shrimp. I failed to like it. The only triumph that day was that my dining companion got to eat the shrimp. One of us was happy, and I survived the ordeal by ordering a brownie-a-la-mode.

Failing is hard, Interviewing for a job you don't get, auditioning for a role that goes to someone else, submitting a manuscript and getting a rejection letter are all things that we might have to go through.

But those things are not the end. Like that baby taking his first steps, we can choose to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off and take another step.

Go on. Take a step. Just one step at a time. You can do it!