More Failure Equals More Success

I’ve noticed that the biggest difference between wildly successful people
and total failures is that the successful people fail more.

–Martha Beck

This quote hit me like a brick. I am ashamed to admit to you how much time I waste fretting about my failures: no husband, no children, I’ve “failed” to stay in one residence for more than a year or two, my career path looks like a web of lightening in the desert sky–fascinating, but impossible to follow. I am decidedly NOT the typical citizen, sitting in the suburbs patiently awaiting my retirement plan. Good thing, because it looks like that program went up in smoke this week. But that’s another story…

Recently I had a glimpse into something different– a new way of viewing things. An alternative to wallowing in the muck. Yes, I’ve had lots of things fall apart, and honestly I am still not ready to venture into the land of romance again after the last disembowelment (getting there…). But what is starting to seep through the seams is a new fragrance of…gratitude. Each time I fall, and every time I have to pick myself up and dust myself off, I gain a new set of skills, and a new resilience. At this point, I AM UNBREAKABLE. And for heaven’s sake, I live in Thailand. What is there to complain about?

That big black cloud that hovers overhead contains rain. And rain feeds growth. It’s just a matter of perspective, and learning to appreciate what’s right in front of you, no matter what.

So I’m  committing to a new practice. Each day, I vow to identify five things for which I am grateful. Today, it’s: heart-shaped raw chocolate truffles sweetened with coconut flower syrup, practice– in whatever form it takes, Leo Tolstoy, soul sister friends and Phuket’s Andaman shore.

I vow not to let failure derail me, and to keep on keepin on. Sometimes I think all this obsession with the negative is simply a way of avoiding success. Life is good, but only when you look at it that way. Are you going to join me?