Love the Fail

I posted this on my Open Road Writing blog in early December. As I undertake some (for me) big changes, I wanted to revisit the idea of loving the fail.

Fail.

It’s a word that should make me shudder. It should make me anxious. It should make me afraid. Instead, it makes me straighten my shoulders, take a deep breath, and relax.

When I fail, I win.

Before you shake your head and click away, disgusted by this paradox, let me assure you that I do not seek to fail. But I don’t really seek to win, either.

I seek to try.
I seek to learn.
I seek to change.
I seek to grow.

I am a curious person, and writing enables me to explore the world. I write about what I know. I write about my questions. I write about what I want to learn. It’s a messy business. And I fail a lot. I get rejection emails for stories that I know have merit. Proposals don’t get accepted. Blog posts don’t garner comments.

Here’s the thing, though. Each time I fail, just as Henry Ford said, I have the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.

And if the results are not what I wanted or expected, I can mine them and learn.

What’s the point of musing on failure?

Simply this: I want to encourage you, along with myself, to love the fail. When we’re willing to love the fail, we’re willing to take risks, to do authentic work, to learn, to grow.

Loving the fail means we can write in the face of rejection. Because it is the writing, the continuing to write, not the acceptance of the writing, that matters.

Go on, then. Fail. But give that fail all you’ve got.