Creativity: Failure & the Creative Life
Why are we afraid of failure?
It’s embarrassing. It’s humiliating. And perhaps it makes us feel weak and small inside.
When’s the last time you failed? How did it make you feel? Do you remember your reaction?
Perhaps it was a test. Poor performance at work. An interview. Suggesting a new idea.
Were you nervous? Did you cry? Get angry? Did you shy away and never try again?
Oftentimes these emotions are uncomfortable. Although difficult to experience, they lead to some of the most important lessons, opening up many doors for us later on in life.
We live in a culture where everything appears to be perfect and “normal” on the outside. Our social media accounts portray this.
The reality is that life is messy. We’re not always perfect people. And if we try to always stay within the lines, we’ll never know what lies beyond.
It’s important to allow ourselves to be open to failure and rejection, because on the other side is a reward - either a lesson to be learned, or you achieve what you intended.
This doesn't mean to be stupid with our failures, but rather, to be smart with our intentions and our reactions.
It’s not the failure itself that’s important. What’s important is that we learn from our failures and implement these lessons into our lives.
Ask yourself: If I fail at this, what’s the worst that can happen?
Failure is one of the most important tools for a creative life.
When we’re comfortable encountering failure and rejection, only then will we be able to experience results that we’ve never seen before.
A creative life is one that has experienced failure multiple times - not recoiling from it, but embracing, learning and implementing its lessons.
Failure is a steppingstone to personal success and creativity.