Failure..is it real or illusionary?
Winning and loosing are common terms you hear since childhood. The very first encounter to this is when you are born. You defy all evil forces and take birth like a warrior winning over 400 million sperms. Your first win is registered then and there. Consider your first cry on earth as tears of joy to have won the opening game.
Unfortunately after winning the most deadly war of your life which is “your life itself”, you forget the true meaning of winning. You start focusing only on failures. Do you know the real meaning of failure? Let me define it for you.
Failure is the lack of success or inability to meet an expectation.
Now, that we got the definition let’s do some calculation over it. Remove the words success and inability from above and we are left with-
Failure is the lack to meet an expectation.
Wonderful! Now lets focus on the word expectation. Who defines this expectation? Is it you, your family, your friends or your society? It is a common phenomenon to associate our success and failure based on the criteria placed by the stakeholders around us.
I got less marks in exam what will I do in future?
I am unable to fulfill the dream of my parents, I am a failure.
I am unable to crack the exam so I am a failure.
My daughter wanted me to be a sportsperson, I failed her.
Everyone in my family is earning well since early age and I am not, I am a failure.
I come from a well educated society having lavish lifestyle, I can’t even bear my basic expenses, I am a failure.
I am born differently than others, people mock me, I am a complete failure.
If such thoughts have ever made a place in your mind hold on for a minute..take deep breadths and pause. Life is not about getting better in eyes of others but getting better in your own eyes. Life is about meeting your own expectations. Of course your loved ones might have seen dreams for you, visualized you flying in the air or becoming Bill Gates some day. Along with them you must have nurtured those dreams together. But you need to ponder over one thing that time, place, situation and people can’t declare you a failure. It’s only you who can do that.
There is no rule book to define failure.
If Einstein had stopped on being called a day dreamer and a Schweinhund(pig dog in German) he could never create history. If he had given up over the death of his father who had an impression that his son would become a complete failure, he could not have proved his own father wrong. Richard Branson, the virgin galactic tycoon had dyslexia and cognitive disorder since childhood. If he had considered health parameters as measure of success he would not have been named among the richest people in Britain. The very famous Amitabh Bachchan of Bollywood was rejected by all India Radio for his voice. His first twelve films were flop. If he had stopped, Indians would not have got the privilege to hear his persuading voice everyday while making a call during Covid pandemic. Oprah Winfrey was raped at 9 , pregnant at 14 and fired for being unfit for television. If she had listened to the society, she would not have made it till here. The stories of JK Rowling, Stephen hawking, Steve Jobs and Abraham Lincoln are not hidden from any of us, who have continued to teach the world “the power of belief”.
You must have listened about them in every motivational article. So what’s new here? I am not a motivational speaker. Neither do I am trying to convince all my readers that everyone will become great like them or be famous like them. Let’s be practical we all can’t have the same recognition. Only 0.0086% of people are world famous. But one fact is very clear we all will create history in our own special ways and in our own niche. We all are unique and have the capabilities to rise like Phoenix and this is what we need to learn from their lives. There is a pattern which you can observe here in all of them. Ironically their achievements came in the same field for which they were heavily criticized, which gives you another point to rejoice. It is a proven fact that you can turn your failure into your success in any field you desire.
Success makes no discrimination.
If you get up everyday with a zeal to learn and live, you can’t be a failure. Failure is an illusion just like mirage. Every time you cross it, you will experience that there was no such thing. You yourself made your own boundaries. Try tuning your definition of failure to your own pitch. Replace it with the music of success by focusing on only success part. Neglect the chapters you think are pulling you down. Make your own goals, believe in them and set your own limits. You can never fail unless you declare yourself a failure. We never know, may be you and me are ready to become a part of that famous crowd. ☺
Success is failure turned inside out –
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
You can never tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit –
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.
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THANK YOU NOTE
Thank you for reading my article. I hope you liked it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The author is a Graduate in Chemistry hons and Masters in Chemistry from Miranda House,Delhi University. She loves writing , dancing, singing, painting and doing craft work. She has performed Rajasthani folk dance at Doorsarshan and is also the winner of Htcity fresh face of the year. She has been into blogging since past three years. She writes about social issues and lifestyle. She has authored a short novel on “Unsung Heroes” at mygov platform.
She writes on Blogspot (myideosphere.blogspot.com) , Medium and Times of India Reader’s blog(bizarre ruminations). You can also follow her on Instagram (my_creatosphere). Feel free to interact with her.
