Bounce Back

        We have all failed. Failed in many things. Not just on exams or driving tests, we've failed our family members, friends, partners, coworkers, the list goes on. Now there are two ways to handle failure. You can handle it before the fact or you can handle it after the fact. Today I am going to be discussing with you, how to handle it after the fact. 

        Let us say you had some big failure, that has been making you feel down for quite some time now. We've all had them, sometimes it takes hrs to get past, sometimes days, sometimes years. So what should you do in these situations? Well the first thing you must do is get out of the denial phase. This is the phase we all get stuck in. This is the phase that causes us to be down, depressed, sad, and so forth. We experience all these negative emotions because we're denying and fighting the failure. Denial is an attempt to be right but there's no way to be right because we know in the back of our mind that we failed. This conflict is actually what causes the sadness, and depressions and so forth. So the first step is to get out of denial.

        Next, would be to accept that you failed and focus on the present and future because that's what you can control. You can't change or control the past. 

        The third thing would be to figure out where you went wrong and fix that. If you tripped because you never mastered walking then you should go back and master walking. And then try running. So make sure you look for where you failed. Then of course fix it. But don't stop here. If you really want to bounce back you can't just patch up the hole in the boat, you need to reinforce it. You need to make that area stronger than it was before. 

        You can see how many holes one can fall into while going through all these steps. Some people get stuck in denial, some people never look for where they went wrong, some people patch the problem but they don't leave it stronger than it was before. 

        This is why so many people are afraid of failure because they always seem to fall into one of these holes. But now that you know them, I'm certain you'll be able to avoid them. 

       So make sure you go through all these steps and make sure that you don't get stuck on any, at least not for long. It's totally natural for you to be sad about something for a day or two, it happens to me too. Just make sure that you complete the cycle. Don't get stuck on denial for an entire lifetime. 

       Get through it and leave it better than it was before!

-Enrique the Great