The Art of Failure

Failure is a tricky thing to move past. We fail everyday in small ways we most likely don't even think twice about, but when you fail at something you have put your heart and soul and time into how do you move past it? It's very easy to give up and quit trying, the hard part is moving on and trying again. 

Recently I tried to book a 2 day painting workshop. I kept the price low since it would have been my first time teaching this course, had my copy polished and ready and shared with everyone I knew (plus asked them to share), yet no one, not one person signed up. I spent about a week wallowing, thinking this whole year has been wasted. No one will ever want what I'm offering, this has been a waste of 9 months of my time and a ton of money. Defeatist talk. Old talk. The things I used to say to myself and I honestly thought I had moved past. The thing is those thoughts are always in our heads, waiting to pounce. Like a well trained cat stalking it's prey, waiting in the shadows until you are at your lowest. It aims to bring you even lower, lower than you even thought possible.

The trick is to acknowledge those feelings, yet not dwell. If you don't acknowledge and instead try and ignore is when they get angry, and loud. They start shouting at you until finally you snap and can't take it anymore.

 If you acknowledge their presence you can say yes I see you, but I'm not giving in to you, they will slowly start to fade away. 

Every experience is an opportunity to grow and change. Hopefully December will bring the space and people I need to me to finish out my course work in Intentional Creativity™, but if not, I'll try again in January, and again in February, and for however long it takes.