Having faith in God builds one strong enough to avoid depression, loneliness, and suicidal tendencies.
I have heard many times that ‘failure is not an option.’
Does it mean that we have to be perfect and successful in whatever we want to
achieve in life? How can that be possible? Because since we are human beings
and imperfect, we shall continue to experience many setbacks, including failure
and disappointment, daily in our lives.
In relationships, careers, and businesses, we are all bound
to suffer certain problems. The question is, how do we handle or take it
personally when we encounter such painful defeats and failures?
I have seen it in sports, tournaments, and certain fields of activity: participants
emotionally and psychologically break down in distress because they failed to
achieve what they aimed at.
Life isn’t an easy journey if you want to achieve something genuine. Many like to avoid life pitfalls or turmoil by choosing the wrong
path or shortcut. You can see them driving expensive cars and dwelling in
beautiful mansions, but you don’t know what they do for a living.
When you see them like that, many wish they were one of them,
but be careful wishing you were someone until you read on the front page of
newspapers that the person you wished to be has been arrested at one of the
international airports in possession of heroin or cocaine.
Would you like your
life to end up in this way because you wanted to avoid life’s failures and
disappointments?
The world is full of great people; sometimes your eyes will
be filled with tears when you read their autobiographies to know what they
went through before achieving success. In life, failure or disappointment
teaches one to be perfect. It is worth, therefore, seeing failure as one of life’s tools that educates and shapes life positively.
My passion to be a writer was easier in Africa than in Europe,
yet when I was in Africa, I thought Europe would be the right place for me to
achieve my aims and objectives. Once in Antwerp, Belgium, I tried to raise funds to enhance the publication of one of my books. It turns out to be one of
the biggest failures in my life.
I couldn’t raise a cent, but this embarrassment wasn’t only
what happened. I became a laughing puppet at the school where I’m working. It
became the talk of the town with gossip and laughter. Instead of being sad or
depressed, I embraced and accepted it as one of life’s challenges to
continue writing without looking back.
People do things you may find hard to believe. I don’t
even think children will do what they did. The failure of the fundraising also
taught me to be careful of those I contact to demand bread.
If one fails to accept
failures and disappointments as instruments destined to educate and propel your
career to the highest peak, one may end up in psychiatry with depression or
mental problems.