Failure must always be an option: part 1 -Fear

"Never let the fear of striking out get in your way."
George Herman "Babe" Ruth

At least once in our lives, but more likely several times, I think everyone has avoided doing something because we thought that we might fail. Or we might look ridiculous. Or maybe sound stupid. Our egos may have remained briefly unscathed, but what did we really loose? Perhaps it was an opportunity to find something which we may have truly enjoyed. Or missed the chance to get to know a genuinely wonderful person. Or maybe we lost an opportunity to raise a question or make a statement that could have made profound and enduring impact.

The magnitude of the victory is always defined by the potential of the failure. "Easy wins" are meaningless and hollow. "Sure things" only bring transient satisfaction. Reflect on the most rewarding, most exhilarating moments of your life and I would believe that failure was always a possibility. A possibility that did not stop you.

Enjoy the experience, and if you fail, remember no one is keeping count, they are all waiting to join you in celebrating your successes.

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much because they live in that gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt