Failure

I have failed. Many times too many. Recently I heard someone ask Michael Jordan how he became a success, and he said, "I failed 26 times." That was how he succeeded. Many times in life, we are daunted by the task of how we handle failure. Personally, I have had my own share. Going through these challenges were not easy. But I have learned that resistance builds strength. Dating to my childhood, my mother told me she was shot in the chest a few days after my birth, yet she never gave up. I was lucky enough to survive after undergoing severe illnesses as an infant. As time progressed, I suffered from different ailments and life events. Growing up, my father worked around the clock to provide food, clothing and shelter for a family of seven. In spite of this, we were barely fed with a silver spoon. My doting mother, a woman whom I love so much, worked hard as a school teacher to provide additional income to our family but the Nigerian government never ceased to delay her monthly salary for several months at a time. In spite of the hardship, my parents were pricipled in their ways. Their generation did not solve all the problems but they were hopeful.


I strongly believe that there is a generation of greatness that used to walk this earth, and they left their mark; in the ways they thought, in their approach to problem solving, in the values they taught and in the lives they lived. Many of them are dead today, they were not all famous, and the truth is we will never know those that never became famous. However, these men brought up their children with fire and passion, with the zeal for nothing but to be the best that they could be. These people lived not for themselves but for others; their descendants, the ones who would come after, for us who are here now, and for the unborn. They taught their kids that a person should perform their life's work so well that the living, the dead and unborn could do it no better.

But the truth of the matter remains that actualizing these dreams would not come easy. Ask any noble person of bonafide greatness and respect, and he/she will tell you that greatness did not come easy. You see, some people are strengthened by failure and some are defeated by it. Who survives and who does not has little to do with money or advantage. It depends on inner strength of character; a primitive toughness that protects the self; that would not let mere external events affect it. This canal of survival is a precious possession, and discovering it is one of the real rewards of failure. It is a profound and powerful kind of self knowledge.

It is important to understand that failure itself, is not a die or live situation. It is an event that is defined by the 'self.' Failure can be caused by something external, over which we have limited control. It can also be caused by something internal (within us), over which we have more control. Finally there is moral failure, which may be disguised as success. So one of the most effective actions to take when dealing with failure is to understand which kind one is dealing with.

I don't know why I decided to write today, but I write from the heart. I have failed several times in different aspects of my life, but I never gave up. I have faced rejections, and 'NOs' many times but I never gave up. We have been told the word 'impossible' many times, but we never gave up. We have lost several dear people dear to our hearts, but we never gave up. I have been knocked down by many winds, but I never gave up. Like I mentioned earlier, resistance always builds strength. Never ever ever give up!

P.S. Stay humbled, focus and stay in prayer!      

Sincerely,  

LazioM.A.N