Something to Befriend...

Monday-Wednesday I attended the Teen Business Summit! I gathered more knowledge and courage in just three days then some might gather in a few years. One of the speakers', Roman Price founder of LifePulp, presentation was on overcoming obstacles and believing in ourselves. In today's post I wanted to share just two words of his fantastic letter that really empowered me and I hope does the same for you-"Befriend Failure." In my journey this has been one of the hardest things for me to accept. Luckily I now I realize that everything happens for a reason and just because I failed at something doesn't mean I won't succeed in life; I always end up learning from my mistakes. However when I was younger I felt I had to be the perfect student and nothing less. My teachers borrowed my notes to use as their own (fueling my perfection need) and I studied constantly; I was afraid of failure. If I didn't get the grade I wanted, I would fall apart. My mother tried to use reverse psychology and celebrated (by singing and dancing) when I felt I wasn't perfect and failed. This just left me wanting to be even more perfect, so I wouldn't get to hear her sing(I love you, mom). For years, I felt this way and those were the hardest and most painful years of my life. Finally, when I started to turn my life around and felt more grounded as a person, was I able to make friends with failure. I felt more grounded when I ate right and exercised daily. Balancing my life, allowed me to handle more fails emotionally. Now failure and I are best friends. We have gotten to know each other very well! I am able to laugh and learn from my mistakes, instead of wallow in them. I can honestly say that I am so happy in my life and feel so much more light-hearted, now that I've befriended failure.