“Failure is another stepping stone to greatness” – Oprah Winfrey. I would like to think of this quote as my best friend; in a few simple words, it gives me strength. For years I have struggled with the feeling of not doing enough and someone always stopping me from not accomplishing something. I would put myself through hell for not getting what I wanted to achieve.
Failure comes in different forms, from not getting the job you wanted to a failed business launch. But, failure isn’t the right word for these cases. Instead, we should say the ”opportunity” of not getting the job or the “opportunity” of a business launch passed us. These are signs that you have the potential to do something even greater and not to stop. Failure is a green light to success, but sadly, many of us mistake it for a red one.
Failure leads to some of the most horrible feelings of anxiety, depression, and low-self esteem. But you should know that it’s okay to feel that way. And now it’s time to get you back up and go achieve that goal. No more feeling sad about yourself. Instead, spend more time lifting yourself up through these healthy ways to handle failure and start again.
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1. View Failure as a Learning Tool
Most of us tend to view failure as the end of the world and just sit idle and do nothing. We think that it’s the full stop to our lives. But that’s where you’re wrong. You should think about where you went wrong, learn from your failure and move on. You can change your perspective, grow, and reach that light waiting for you at the end of the tunnel. It’s all about the mindset, so allow failure to teach you instead of putting yourself down.
2. Take Responsibility
Accepting your faults that may have led to failure has a lot of benefits. For one, it makes it easier to get out of a situation of feeling sad and dull in the long run. Blaming your failure on external factors is only helpful in the short term. In fact, it can restrict you from moving on the road to success.
3. Accept Your Failure
Instead of shutting your mind and not trying to think about what just happened, accept all your failures. Coming to terms with your mistakes will help you focus on how you can fix and avoid them. Once you accept your situation, don’t dwell on it. Again it’s all about the mindset that will help you handle failure.
4. Make Use of Healthy Coping Skills
There are a few coping skills you can practice daily. They are especially great in moments when you feel like you’re about to lose your mind. A few things you can do are practice deep breathing, yoga, exercise, and listening to music. These are different forms of therapies that are quite helpful. You must also make adjustments to your diet and opt for clean eating. Whenever you feel like you’re nothing but a failure, these coping strategies will definitely help change your mind set.
Takeaway
Our brain has a lot to do with the way we cope with failure. Research conducted at Stanford University confirms how failure operates with our brain, and through that, we see the results. If you’re struggling with handling this feeling of failure, it’s time to change. More specifically, change that feeling and shift to different opportunities as a way to handle failure.
Remind yourself daily that you didn’t come into this world to accept failure. Rather, you came to show the world something greater than that and that you should keep going.