more thoughts on failure

My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.   Abraham Lincoln

I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying.   Michael Jordan

It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might has well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.    J. K. Rowling

I don't believe in failure. It is not failure if you enjoyed the process.   Oprah Winfrey

Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.  Richard Branson

Failure happens all the time. It happens every day in practice. What makes you better is how you react to it.   Mia Hamm

Success isn't permanent and failure isn't fatal.   Mike Ditka

Success represents the 1% of your work which results from the 99% that is called failure.   Soichiro Honda

It is not a disgrace to fail. Failing is one of the greatest arts in the world.   Charles Kettering

Never walk away from failure. On the contrary, study it carefully and imaginatively for its hidden assets.   Michael Korda

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.    Winston Churchill

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.   Bill Cosby

Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.   Charlie Chaplin

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.   Theodore Roosevelt

Failure is a great teacher, and I think when you make mistakes and you recover from them and you treat them as valuable learning experiences, then you've got something to share.   Steve Harvey

And I saved my favorite for last... 

You must accept that you might fail; then, if you do your best and still don't win, at least you can be satisfied that you've tried. If you don't accept failure as a possibility, you don't set high goals, you don't branch out, you don't try - you don't take the risk.   Rosalynn Carter

lessons learned

Success is often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable.   ~ Coco Chanel

The key to success is failure. If you let failure teach you instead of break you it can teach you to persevere, it can teach you how to come up with creative solutions, and it can teach you resilience. I know it seems counterintuitive but to succeed in life, to find your bliss, your joy, your whatever you're looking for you have to be willing to fail. I want my life to be more creative but I struggle with what creative outlet to pursue so instead of trying any I try none. I think to myself "I've always loved writing I should give that a go." and then fear says "no you'll probably suck at it and fail miserably" so I don't bother. Reality is WHO THE HELL CARES? If it doesn't work out move on. I have a tendency to let the "what ifs" of life paralyze me and the biggest what if has always been what if I fail. I don't care anymore. The last thing I failed at was a job that had left me physically and emotionally spent, joyless, and depressed. I failed, I lost said job, and even though I spent the next 9 months unemployed I had felt like the weight of the world had lifted off my shoulders and I could finally see light at the end of the tunnel. Failure is good and I'm not only going to embrace the failures that come my way I'm going to allow myself room for failure. 

Thinking to myself...

Blogging is a confusing experience for me. So much of what you read when you read about blogging talks about finding your niche, having an editing calendar, and running a blog like a business that it can feel overwhelming when all you wanted to do was start a blog so that you could write and post things that caught your eye. I wanted to blog as a creative exploration for myself not to gain hundreds of thousands of followers or become "internet famous". I don't want to narrow down my passions into a single niche in order to gain followers, I don't want to narrow down my passions for any reason.  Needless to say, I became overwhelmed and gave up. I read this post last week that reminded me that this blog is indeed for me. Most specifically this line "... [blogging is] one of the single most effective tools for shaping, sharing, and holding yourself accountable to living the life you want. That was everything I needed to get my head back in the game. This space is not about perfection. This space is about seeking my creative truth so good-bye Type-A-wanting-to-do-everything-perfect and hello to messy-you-never-know-what-you're-going-to-get. 

WORKING FOR THE WEEKEND

Ok so technically I am not working. Much. I have managed to pick up a part time gig that I am completely enamored with so YAY! The remaining waking hours of my life are spent in a desperate search for full time work. Whoever equated being unemployed with laziness is dead wrong because I am exhausted. All of this means I haven't had much time to finish any of the blog posts I've started but in anticipation of pending full time employment I thought I would start a Friday feature post, hence the title, that will feature things that I'm looking forward to for the weekend. (It's a work in progress while I play with the formatting so bear with me.)

Reading: I'm halfway through Dracula and plan on having it done by Sunday. 

Eating: Tortilla Española is perfect for breakfast and lunch which means more time for reading.

Listening:

Gentle Reminders

I had coffee (which turned into lunch) with Rachel, a good friend of mine, today. One of the things that I value about our time together is that I am able to be so honest in our conversations about the current state of my life. (It's not a great time right now but thankfully I am an eternal optimist so as far as I'm concerned it's still not bad. Just... trying.) In our conversation I mentioned author and speaker Brené Brown as someone that she should look into. This wasn't just something that popped into my head at that moment because I had been thinking about the Ted Talks that Brown gave after the last time Rachel and I met; her talk on vulnerability in particular because I realized that this characteristic was something that is very much a part of our friendship. When I got home I re-watched both Ted Talks and thought they deserved a post. I would also highly suggest her books. 

Ambitious Reads: October

Reading has always been one of my favorite past times. I find nothing more soothing than curling up under the covers with a cup of tea and a good book and I'm not picky about what kind of book. I have books on my shelves from (almost) every genre be it history, fantasy, self-help, memoir, mystery, politics... you get the picture.

October is my second favorite month of the year and it has always been a big deal in my family ever since I can remember; my mom's birthday is on Halloween so come October 1st it's all witches and ghouls for us. For my October reading list I decided that I would keep with the Halloween theme; even though the stories are not related to the holiday itself they all fall somewhere on the creepy scale and are worthy of the occasion. 

The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle; these are two classics written by Shirley Jackson who was well known for her gothic style horror writing. 

The Bloody Chamber: and Other Stories by Angela Carter. This is full of dark retellings of fairy tales. 

Dracula by Bram Stoker. The classic. I haven't read it. Yet. 

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill. This is his first novel and I've read some great reviews and since all of my other choices are classics I decided I wanted a newer release. 

All in all I think this is going to be a great reading month. Do you have any reading plans for the month? 

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