Failure

Today I read a quote that had an extremely profound effect on me. It reads, "It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all--in which case, you fail by default."
Now, that quote is by the enormously successful, J.K. Rowling. One of the most revered, and wealthy women of our time. And she, of all people, is talking about failure? I understand your skepticism. I really do. But she was not always the author of Harry Potter. She was a single mom, struggling to pay rent, that had hit rock bottom, and that began the Harry Potter series on napkins in a cafe. Don't you think she worried that her novel, her brain child, would be rejected and ridiculed? And I'm sure it was several times. And I'm sure she felt like a complete, utter failure. Divorced, poor, not able to provide for herself or her child...But she took a chance. She chose to not live cautiously and keep her ideas to herself. She put herself out there for criticism. And it paid off.
Is that not the scariest thing? Putting ourselves out there? After all the time and effort we may put into a project, what if it isn't accepted or appreciated or liked? What if everyone hates it? And sometimes, that just might happen. But if we allow that to hold us back, to prevent us from living rather than existing, we "fail by default."
This quote reminds me of the T.S. Elliot poem entitled, "The Hollow Men." (If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it!) How often do we let the small things--people, criticism, fear, laziness--get in the way of us achieving? How often do we allow "the Shadow" to come between what we want to do, and the actual action of doing so. How often do we allow "the Shadow" to come between the conception and the creation, or the emotion and the response? You know what I think one of the most common "shadows" in our lives is? Fear. Fear of pain. Fear of criticism. Fear of ostracism. Fear of failure.
One of the stanzas of this poem reads:
"Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom
Remember us—if at all—not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men"
Why? Why do they not remember us? Because, due to a fear of inadequacy, defeat, and heartache, we do nothing. We are "cautious." And in doing nothing and being cautious, we become, nothing.
"Better to be safe than sorry." What if, by being "safe," we are sorry? I'm not saying, "Jump off a cliff." I'm saying, take chances. Follow your dreams. Do what you always dreamed of doing. Is that not better than forever living with "What if?" Yes, practicality is important. But sometimes, you need to jump. You need to fail.
Another reason that failure(which sometimes results from stupidity) is so vital is that failure is how we grow. Failure is how we change, it's how we progress! I mean, if you know something is dangerous, don't do it. For example, if you know it is morally wrong, usually that's a good pointer to whether or not what you're about to do is not okay. Try to learn from other's mistakes in situations like that, (even though, moral mistakes are not the end of the world, and I'll address that another time.) but in other situations, take some chances. Don't let others’ opinions of what is "stupid" or "cool" shape YOU. Try to publish that novel! Audition for Broadway! Send Yale your college application! Start learning that language you've been dying to learn! Try out for that team!

"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all--in which case, you fail by default."

Fail by experience, not by default.