My son is learning to walk these days. That in and of itself can create tons of moments of wonder and tons of lessons.
I've found myself telling him time and time again though, that learning to walk is as much a lesson in learning to fall. I think I'm teaching myself that as much as I'm trying to teach him. The truth is, it's a lesson I'm still learning at the age of... well, a lot older than my son.
I read a great quote today on Carlos' blog and it is one I will be reminding myself of time and again through this learning process:
“I have missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot . . . and missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why . . . I succeed.”
Michael Jordan
I have a friend who also illustrates this for me in his writing career. He told me once that he has saved every single "no thank you" letter he's received from publishing companies.
I think it is important to recognize and affirm all of the times we try. Absolutely celebrate our successes! Celebrate big! But don't neglect affirming each other for trying and learning.
The reality is that we won't get it right every time we try and we stand to grow so much through the trying process. So we have to be willing to fail in order to succeed. What are you trying these days? In what area of life are you now "learning to fall"?
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2 comments:
Deana,
I loved your post. So true. I think I'm always learning to fall as a parent. Having become a parent in my late 30's, I wish I could take some of the lessons from parenting and apply them to my early career. It's always been hard for me to say, "I don't know." or "I'll find out and get back to you." or even, "I wish I had done that differently." With Sara, I'm learning every day to acknowledge my imperfections. I'm still the parent but I won't always be right and I don't have all the answers. Right now, Sara's very content sleeping in my bed. She's been doing it off and on for 18 months. I wanted to make sure she felt secure and safe as much as possible. Experienced parents warned me to find a balance between security and independence and told me that if she started sleeping in my bed, it would be hard to get her to leave. Yep, they were right. I probably should have looked for another solution. Not the first parenting mistake I made and I doubt it will be the last!
I'm learning to fall as a leader. It's so much more fun that failing on my own because it affects lots more people and is much more public. :) < /sarcasm>
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