What Do You Do When You Fail?

Happy Monday! 🙂

How are you? Have you ever joined a contest and lost? 

I remember when I was in Grade 3. I joined a declamation contest. Our declamation piece was titled Damon and Pythias. It was an inter school competition. I rehearsed my piece really well and I prepared for the big day.

The big day came. I was nervous and excited at the same time. I represented our little barrio school. After I delivered my piece, I felt good about my performance. My coach congratulated me and everyone seated near me extended their hands and congratulated me.

Then people were saying, the winner will be either you or the representative from the pilot school.

Came the announcement of winners.

Third place goes to… not my name. My little barrio school cheered!

Second place goes to… the pilot school! At this point, everyone congratulated me. Even people who were not seated close to me went up to me and congratulated me. I was beaming with happiness.

And the first place goes to…

People close to where I was seated were telling me, “That’s you, Sha!” So I stood up, very happy, and getting ready to go up the stage.”

And the first place goes to…. (not my name).

Ouch!

That was the first time I felt so humiliated, sad, disappointed, defeated, and crushed — all at the same time. I was in Grade 3! 

Have you ever expected something you thought should belong to you but went to someone else? How did you feel?

As a young Grade 3 pupil then, I remembered crying out so hard the moment I left the room. Of course, my parents took turns in comforting me.

Life happens. Sometimes we get what we want, sometimes we don’t. We can choose to complain or we can choose to learn from the experience and move on. 

When I grew older and when I got immersed to books, seminars, and mentors, I learned how to deal with failure gracefully. It’s still a struggle, of course! Haha! But now, I know that life always happens for me, not to me. Everything that happens is for my good. Everything that happens — whether I win or lose — is the best thing that could possibly happen at that moment.

Same thing with you. As what Joel Osteen would always say, life happens for you, not to you.

Maybe you have problems right now. Maybe you feel a little down sometimes. Maybe you feel as if stress eats you up. Maybe your boyfriend or girlfriend left you for another person. Maybe you failed to get that promotion.

And maybe you question yourself, “Am I good enough? Maybe I am not beautiful enough. Maybe I am not talented enough. Maybe I am not funny enough.”

Here’s a little encouragement for you today. You are enough. You are worthy. You are loved. The events and the failures don’t define who you are. God made you His masterpiece. He made you just the way you are.

Cheer up! All is well 🙂

I wish you success and happiness!

Sha Nacino

Author. Speaker. Book Writing Coach. 

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