What does failure mean to you? What does success mean to you? What do you think is the difference between the two?
Many people believe success to be about acquisition. When we acquire wealth, property, status and power, we are generally deemed to be successful.
Failure is often considered to be the absence of any or all of the above accomplishments. So, if we don’t have cash stashed in the bank, we’re failing. If we don’t own our own home, we’re failing. If we don’t have the perfect relationship, we’re failing. If we don’t have 5 million Twitter followers, we’re failing.
If I asked you if you are failing in life, what would you say?
Hold that thought.
Let’s take the word ‘fail’ and play around with it a little. What about if we think of it as an acronym for Forever Acquiring Important Lessons?
Let me ask you again, are you failing?
I am.
Every. Damn. Day.
Every single day I learn something new. I discover things about myself, about the world, things that I thought I knew, things that I never thought about knowing. I’m failing all over the place. Me? My life? Failing.
And I hope I keep failing. I hope I never get to a point where I stop learning important lessons. Because life lessons are the kind of acquisitions that actually matter. The ones that keep the emptiness away. The ones that never depreciate in value and always hold their worth.
Unless you’ve been living on another planet for the last fifteen years, you’ve probably heard of the Harry Potter fantasy series. You probably also know that J.K. Rowling is the wonderfully creative imagination who put pen to paper and brought Harry to life.
What you may not perhaps know is that J.K. Rowling submitted the Harry Potter manuscript to twelve publishing houses, all of which rejected her work. So, what did she do? She kept on failing. In fact, she failed so much that she has now sold over 400 million copies of her books. This, from a single mother who had been living in poverty, had witnessed her own mothers long illness and subsequent death, had coped with the break up of her marriage and had dealt with depression, and had in fact contemplated suicide.
She is now a multi millionaire.
She created a brand that is now worth an estimated $15 billion.
How’s that for a fail?
Remember: Forever Acquiring Important Lessons.
I love reading her personal story and I feel such an affinity with her in many ways – as a writer, as a female and most importantly as a human. She knew struggle, she battled demons, she was rejected multiple times. And she just kept going. She kept learning. She kept failing on a glorious scale.
Ultimately, I think her success may better be defined by her courageous heart rather than by her millions. I’m inspired more by her bravery than I am by her bank account.
I’m reminded that every rejection is an opportunity to choose another path, every pain is a chance to fuel a new adventure and every single dark, terrifying moment is a time to be truly empowered.
Come and fail with me. Let’s make this the journey of our lives. @SkylarLiberty
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Skylar Liberty Rose is a writer and an empowerment warrior. She is the creator of Fierce Females which she established as a way of celebrating the female spirit and to encourage women to live to their full potential, rather than playing small. Having found her own freedom by releasing limiting beliefs, Skylar seeks to provide others with tools they can use to empower themselves. Chosen as one of the ‘Best 50 Women’s Empowerment Blogs 2015’ by the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, Skylar is passionate about stripping away layers of conditioning and instead discovering the unique truth within. Creativity is her meditation. She is inspired by courageous hearts and creative souls. She grew up in London and now lives in New York City with her husband. You can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google+ and via her website.
If you’d like a shot of fierce in your life or you know a sister that does, take a look at Skylar’s unique range of Fierce Female merchandise here. Get your roar on!
