The Gold That's Found in Failure

Yesterday my son played one of the best tennis matches I've ever seen him play. The ridiculously windy conditions made you want to stay inside. He played some amazing tennis and only a couple of points made the difference in him having a win over one of the state's best players. After an epic 3 hour match, he shook hands with his opponent and then began to think about what might have been. I could tell he was viewing his loss from a failure standpoint, when in reality, he had played one of the best matches of his life. I think a lot of us do this from time to time. Now think about this for a moment. If your focus is only on the outcome of something, you'll only view what happened as a fail. However, if your focus is on the journey and not simply the outcome, you can learn, grow and take great strides in going where you want to go. Failure is so often seen as fatal and final, but we all know people around us who have not let failure define who they are and their future. Some of those people are us. My son took great strides yesterday even though he lost the match. He learned so many things and it was a valuable growth experience for him. Will you choose to have the same attitude and view when you fail at something? Will you learn to view a loss as an opportunity? You will if you want to grow and learn :)