I am a failure!
I’ve failed more times then I can remember
Yet, I’ve never stopped trying.
Even when crying,
Drowning in a pool of tears
Created from the many years of do-overs
And sleepless nights – constructing my battle plans.
Plans to win, never ever wanting to lose.
I’m entitled to first place, right?
At least that’s what I was told,
“It’s either you’re first or you are nothing.”
I am to be perfect.
My name will never go down in history for second place,
“No one is to see me break.”
“I only get one try.”
Yet I broke,
Like a pencil pressured to paper.
Flipped the page, I rewrote.
Gave myself a second chance,
Like Oprah, Bill, Steve, Alex and Ellen did.
For I know, like Jobs said,
“All fear of embarrassment or failure;
These things just fall away in the face of death,
Leaving only what is truly important.
Remembering that I am going to die
Is the best way I know,
To avoid the trap of thinking I have something to lose.”
Today, I am a failure.
A failure who knows that one day I’ll be gone.
I wake up every morning with a plan
To leave a mark upon this earth.
I brace the storms.
I know one day they will be gone
And the world will remember the battles I’ve fought.
I continuously learn from my wrongs,
And cast fear to the wind.
Today, I tell you.
I am a successful failure.
Each morning,
I accept that I don’t have to be perfect to be the best.
I know being MY best is always better than being THE best,
Because there are about 8 billion kinds of “normal.”
The only thing I can ever do 100% every time I try,
Is to be myself.
No matter how much success I have,
The number of times I’ve failed would be higher.
I study;
I learn;
I seek understanding;
I open my mind to different perspectives.
Most importantly, I seek the beauty in failure.
It doesn’t matter how many times I fall,
If I always get up.
Like Michael, Maya, Chimamanda, Mandela,
And every successful failure before me,
I know this to be ever true:
“It is better to have tried and fail than to not try at all.”
So call me a failure,
For I am not ashamed to say, I fail.
Authored by Beulah Nimene & Joshua S. Kulah
Featured Image by Financial Samurai
