At some point when you’re trying to change the world you’re going to fall flat on your face.
When we have big dreams and specific deadlines, some day we will fall short.
A friend gave me an important reminder this week with his amazing article on perfectionism; sometimes it feels easier to not to try than to take the chance that we might fail.
My last blog entry was on working hard and I promised that I would be getting to work getting more photos and raising more money for a cause I care about deeply.
But I didn’t. I let work and other commitments get in the way instead.
The catastrophizing started immediately; it felt like I was letting down the rescue who I hoped to help, the people who have contributed already, and my Quinny.
I had to admit that I messed up. Mysteriously tons of tiny urgent errands kept popping up during my writing time that pushed by my next entry week by week. Finally, I had to lock myself in this room and push through.
When we fail we have a choice, we can choose to give up or we can take what is left, learn what we can, and get up to try again.
Changing the world isn’t easy. We’re going to mess up. The question is, are we brave enough to keep going anyway?
A friend of Thomas Edison was commiserating with him and mentioned that it must have been so frustrating to have failed so many time to find the right material for the filament for the electric lamp. Edison’s reply was, I didn’t fail, I learn X numbers of things that didn’t work. I just haven’t found the thing that will work.