While I was growing up, I remember the phrase “failure is never an option” being thrown around in my household. Whether it was failure in school, in an after school activity, or any other thing that we may have been working on, we went into it with a mind set that we could not fail. Society helps with this stigma, if one “fails” at something then they are automatically branded as a failure and the stamp gets printed on their forehead. All hope is lost and the willingness to continue and change the failure to a success is diminished. However, now that I am older, I realize that failure is bound to happen; in fact I want it to happen to me. With failure comes so many more positives than negatives, and as society we tend to spend a little too much time on the negative aspect instead of learning and continuing on. We crave success so much but don’t realize fully what it takes to become one. So below I have 5 surprising reasons why failing is actually good for us as human beings, let’s start using these to our advantage!

Failure Is Your Greatest Teacher

Success is an amazing feeling but not a great teacher in life. We can become successful but without failure, what do we really learn? As much as people dread failure, I tend to find myself looking forward to it. There are so many lessons that you learn by messing up and more times than not, something better ends up coming from those mistakes. Failure is a part of life, and something that is unavoidable. Instead of getting yourself down over it, embrace it and see what you can learn from it to apply to the future. Failure can teach you more lessons about being successful than success ever could.

Keeps You In The Moment

When working on a project we have the future in mind always, how will my project do in 10 years from now? How can I make sure it is still around then? The questions become endless and they are all focused on the future. But when we fail, reality tends to set in and we realize that the future holds no guarantees and what really matters is what you are doing right now. With this, the importance of mindfulness is reinforced and we are completely in the now. We get so wrapped up in projects, deadlines and theories that we put socializing of any sort on the shelf. But in doing so, we’re missing out on precious time of our limited life with those that we love and adore most. Mindfulness enables us to better accept what will be. When we take life moment by moment and remain more grounded, we are able to better adapt when things don’t go according to plan.

Helps You Live To Your Full Potential

If you want to reach your personal best, you have to be willing to fail sometimes. You will push your boundaries further than ever, overcome your limitations, and make the impossible possible all through failure. You become more willing and excited to take risks because you know that you are learning about yourself just as much as the task you are working on. By pushing your limits, you see just how much you have to offer and how far you’re willing to go to achieve greatness. By living to your full potential daily, you will see that all areas of your life will become more successful through time, thus resulting in happiness as well as success.

Learn What You Can And Can’t Control

Through failure, you get to have a one-to-one encounter with your ego. Your ego is the part of you that controls every outcome of every effort that you make. Our ego is made of our ideas and beliefs about ourselves, whether they are true or false, and its very existence depends on keeping these ideas and beliefs in tact. By accepting that certain things are out of your control and being aware of what exactly lies within your power, you will end the self-pitying and self-victimizing cycles and you will stop turning to ‘blame’ as an answer.

Makes You Appreciate Your Successes

If everything you do becomes an immediate success, you won’t be able to fully appreciate the value of the achievement. You didn’t have to rework anything or push your brain to the extreme outsides in order to create a conclusion, and this feeling of pride won’t be as high or as worth it. But if you’ve been through hell, overcame the greatest difficulties, and pushed yourself farther than you ever knew was capable, the value and pride of success is extremely high. The appreciation for you evolves because you overcame these obstacles and defeated them.

Have you benefited from failure? What’s the most important lesson that it taught you? Share your story!

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