The Garden: Defeat & Failure – a thing of the past

Failure is inevitable but defeat on the other hand is a choice.

A famous quote says there is a difference between defeat and failure and the difference is that with defeat you have surrendered and have given in to a permanent state of failure.  Failure is admitting your inaccuracy or weakness and being able to recognise your fall and still pick yourself up and move along.

No matter how challenging, no matter how uncomfortable, avoid defeat and learn to overcome failure. It doesn’t matter your past, it doesn’t matter the many times you have fallen what matters is the many times you rise and continue to run your race. You may have begun on a poor note, you may have kicked every hurdle on the race track and have been faced with being disqualified by the referees of life. However, I am here to tell you that the race is still on, whether the crowd is cheering for you or not if you’re still on that track you owe it to yourself to at least cross the finishing line.

Fortunately for you and I, on this race of life our time keeper is not man made but is the almighty God Himself and His chronology is not in accordance to the world’s standards. So, for as long as He is the time keeper, and has still deemed you worthy to be in the race then you have no reason to be defeated. You must continue the race, focus and finish strong.

We all have failed, perhaps some of us more times than others, but it still does not pardon us, we ought to never accept defeat. If you’re reading this and you have already surrendered to defeat which is a permanent state of failure, I am here to tell you to stop listening to the accuser. I am here to tell you to move out of the seat of defeat and resume your position on the King’s table – because defeat and failure are a thing of the past. Rise up from that dead position, and if what causes your position refuses to leave you then carry it along with you -but whatever you do you cannot afford not to move.

What if I put it to you that you do not have to be completely free of that situation before you must rise? Take up your bed and rise, continue to walk holding that bed. You see, life is not all comedy, sometimes life is a tragedy with both the good and the bad on the menu. We cannot acknowledge light without accepting darkness same way we cannot acknowledge success without accepting defeat. The refusal to recognise the elements of the opposite renders as foolishness or rather obsolete ignorance.

Failure, no matter how unpleasant, is part of the course. Although we recognise that failure is part of life, it is, however, not easy to accept and live it out. For this reason, this week on The Garden I share with you tips from JK Rawlings. He shares on how we can do life over and beyond failure and the lessons we can learn from there.

1. Choose to see rock-bottom as a foundation and not a conclusion. A by-product of failing is a sense of liberation. With no more room to fall any further, the risk relative to the potential reward gets skewed. It can be easy, in a state of pain and disappointment, to not see that as an opportunity. Try to.
2. Use limitations to fuel resourcefulness and inspiration. Heavy defeats, in part, hurt because they limit us. They force us to restart and get by with less. Fortunately, that’s not a bad thing. Limitations help cancel out the noise. They force creativity by providing a more opportune environment for it to flourish.

III. Take control by increasing your odds of success with persistence. Success depends on the consistency of effort as much as it does on the quality of work. We can produce great work and not have it recognized. It takes more than that. It’s a numbers game. Trying again and again makes all the difference.

Failure is an inevitable part of life. It can stop us from aspiring and achieving. Dealing with it is a skill, and psychological preparation can go a long way. As with all matters of the mind, you have to actively fight it to beat it and I believe you can.

Let me reiterate: Do not let failure define you. No matter how many times it happens to you, it cannot be you. Separate yourself from it. Learn the lesson and move on.