Learning how to fall

Anyone who has tried to learn how to do a handstand, headstand, elbow stand or any other complex move of this sort knows that it’s important to learn how to fall. How to fall safely. Therefore I wanted to share with you the idea of learning how to fall figuratively, aka, learning how to fail.

How to fail safely, comfortably, happily, even.

The only way to get confident at these tricky moves is to remove the fear of falling. That’s why you practice falling. You learn how to fall and fail safely so you don’t hurt yourself and so you’re not scared to keep trying. The same should go for any of our endeavours in life. If we feel safe to fail, we are less scared of trying again and again.

Failure is guaranteed on the road to success, so you should get good at it.

I’ve failed a lot. I’m a big trier. I think this helps me beat perfectionism, accept “good enough”, and not be as afraid to try new things and be bad.

How to get comfortable with failure? With falling? How do you learn to fall safely?

Fail often – you’ll get used to it and be less afraid Have a list of things you’re going to do when you failWrite a mantra or pep talk ready for when you failAccept and know that you’re going to fail and remind yourself that you will be okay afterward Listen to the inspirational talks and advice from people who have overcome failure and became successful in the end Learn to laugh at yourself Remember why you want to try things in the first place Have a safety net (financially, whatever)Find and keep a good support system of peers and family Keep the learner/ beginner mindset to allow yourself to learn and adapt Practice Put yourself out there and remind yourself that everyone is human and they’re judging themselves just as much (if not more) than they are judging you

I’ll leave you with this quote from Theodore Roosevelt through Brene Brown about daring greatly:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.” —Theodore Roosevelt

Sincerely,

S. xx