At times it seems like someone cannot handle an ounce more of disappointments. That one ounce feels like what’s needed to make one drown.
That’s how I felt before it happened. I remember checking my forms one last time to see if anyone applied. Nada!
It was the last day to apply for an academy I created to help women start a successful online business. It wasn’t even new. It was the second time I ran it. There were testimonials and the whole shebang was presented very professionally.
I was a failure
Did the fact that nobody signed up means that I wasn’t qualified to teach the subject? Is this proving what I felt all along? I was a failure. In every sense of the way. I screw up a great career, sold my car, moved in with my parents and didn’t do much for years while battling PTSD from a sexual assault.
All those feelings combined with ups and downs in my business made me feel like I was about to break. So lying there in my childhood bedroom, I had a decision to make. I could either give up altogether or fight.
Giving up to me didn’t mean quitting my business and going back to work. Giving up meant going back to the suicidal thoughts I had as a child. The ones I promised to never revisit. It meant giving up on that promise.
We need to learn to deal with failure
Not many people talk about the hardships of having your own business. Especially not how to overcome those hardships and failures. That subject would have helped me at that time.
I had to figure it all out on my own because I chose to fight. One thing I’ve learned through my lifetime of hardships is that usually when it feels like things are too much to bear, it’s because a breakthrough is around the corner. And that’s exactly what happened.
Somehow by the grace of God, I pulled myself together. I picked myself up and created another program. Less than a month later, I had 4 people signed up for that, with more joining afterward.
Failure has a purpose
Now I know that we’re never given more than we can handle. If it seems that way, it’s because we’re stronger than we think we are. Failures come to make us stronger. Failures also happen for us to be an inspiration to others. Without failure, this story wouldn’t have existed.