Tuesday, July 27, 2010

When Failure Does Not ‘Become’ Us


Ever since I was ten years old I’ve been a cricket fan. I don’t expect my passion for the game will ever wane for any substantial length of time. It kind of fits well now that I can see semblances of good faith in the highly successful Australian side.

For a good example, a recent test match saw Australia bat first and they were skittled for a paltry 88—a record low score. This was quite a depressing reality if you consider Australia had the advantage of winning the toss.

Captain Ricky Ponting got it wrong.

But perhaps a surprising thing was the joviality of the captain only hours afterwards as he was seen joyfully leading his charges at training. It wasn’t because he didn’t care. A bad day on the field, or a bad test match, is never a thing to bring this captain or this team down for too long. Failure doesn’t become them. Their heads don’t drop. Their looks are never sullen for long.

Seeing Past the Failure and Hopeless Times

There is a key to this thinking that every one of us can employ.

This is a healthy form of denial that’s enshrined in the truth of hope. The best ‘musts’ in this life are shoving us away from our failures and disappointments back into the fray to have another go.

What this denial isn’t, however, is proud and unaccepting. It admits defeat and may even boast in it—to the lauding of those deserving credit. It takes failure squarely on the chin, meeting it, and finding, like most things, the fear of failure is actually a veneer... it’s not real.

When we choose a more virtuous and utterly alluring denial in the presence of failure we’re saying to this world, “Come on, and give me everything you’ve got, because I’m coming back again and again and again.” This is even beyond courage, in some ways, to the setting of our wills—the decided mind.

We decide beforehand and our commitment commends us to a destiny worthy of our will to succeed beyond any failure that comes. Nothing can stop us.

© 2010 S. J. Wickham.

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