Do you have epic fails in your life that have defined you? Sadly, you will continue to err–as you are human. While you may want to beat yourself up and scream at mistakes, your disappointments provide you the chance for one of the greatest lessons.
Failure is all around you. From raising children to working a job, you make mistakes every day. A young toddler even fails at things too. How many times have you told your infant not to touch the stove?
It wasn’t until they touch the stove and feel the scorching pain that they realize they’ve made a horrible error. However, the burn will go away, but the pain they experienced will teach them a lesson.
Your life is remarkably like that of a toddler. You’re going through life learning as you go. Did you know that the fear of failure can often be more traumatizing than the epic fails that you experience in life?
It’s natural to want to avoid things that cause you pain to develop anxiety and panic. The child who touched the hot stove might be so scared of getting burnt again that they won’t come within five feet of the cooker. It’s unrealistic to avoid a stove for the rest of the child’s life, and you can’t avoid living for fear of falling or getting hurt.
The Persistence of Walt Disney
Who doesn’t love Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy? Did you know that these beloved characters were a struggle to bring to the public? The Disney empire wasn’t always the thriving success it is today.
Walt was an advocate for falling down a few times and often showcased his failures as much as his successes. When people hear the name Disney, they associate it with prosperity, but few know that the legend behind this empire filed for bankruptcy.
All the pressures in life caused Disney to have a nervous breakdown. Even once his characters became a household name, he found himself without money again when he created Snow White’s story. He had to get a bank loan to get the movie off the ground.
Indeed, Disney once even told reporters that it was essential for life to kick you in the teeth a few times. Those times teach you more lessons than fame and prosperity could ever do.
Everyone has a story, even the rich and famous, who seem to have it all going for them. It’s what you do during those times of adversity that matters most.
Fifteen Enduring Life Lessons
1. Humility
The epic fails you experience in life will teach you humility. Once you’ve had your ego shattered a time or two, you look for new paths and develop a greater understanding.
You will learn to right the wrong that caused you to fail, and you can go on to fulfill your dreams. There is nothing more sobering than falling a few times to make you humble.
2. Empathy
Many people have sympathy because they feel sorry for others. However, once you’ve been to rock bottom, you learn how to empathize. You can relate to others on a deeper level when you’ve been in those dark places. You will have compassion for others, and it changes your perceptions of things.
3. Resourcefulness
If everything is handed to you on a silver platter, you do not need to be resourceful. However, once your finances have tanked and you’ve been on skid row, you realize how important it is to find new resources. Desperation can lead to inspiration, and you will learn new methods to make things happen.
4. Better Coping Skills
When you’re younger, you may use alcohol as a coping method for stress. However, as you age, you learn that you must be mentally and spiritually sound for your family and career. When the emotions roll in like the ocean’s tide, you find better ways to deal with them.
You may have turned to prescription medications or alcohol in the past, you now have learned to meditate or journal to get rid of all the angst you feel.
5. Develop a New Perspective
Through your epic fails and disappointments in life, you learn how to put happiness into perspective. Being happy is a state of being and not a destination. You discover how to view things in proportion, and you understand that you can only embrace the moment.
6. Grasp Time Management
Everyone gets 24 hours a day and seven days a week. No matter who you’re or how much money you have, time is life’s biggest equalizer. When you have a few failures, you learn how to manage your time.
If you don’t learn to manage time, then it will control you. If you want efficiency and to improve your result, then you know strategies to help you manage your time more effectively.
7. Better Planning Skills
Establishing a concrete action plan to accomplish your goals is crucial to success. Failures teach you to become a better planner. You need to refine your approach and not alter your goals. By adjusting past methods and techniques, you learn how to make your dreams possible.
8. Discover New Meaning
Life’s disappointments push you to uncover new meaning. You’re compelled to ponder your motives for wanting things. Either it’s important enough for you to move forward, or it’s not that significant, and you quit and give up. You’ll look at everything quite differently after epic fails than you did before.
9. Gratitude
Sometimes the pursuit of happiness and financial gain makes you lose sight of what matters. Ask a homeless person that lives on the street how wonderful it was to have a house and a comfy bed to sleep in. Hitting rock bottom forges you to be thankful for what you have in life.
10. Financial Responsibility
Once you’ve been through bankruptcy court or been on the brink of financial ruin, you have a whole new meaning for managing your finances. You soon learn that those $5 gourmet coffees on the way to work are an extravagance that you don’t need. Your epic fails in life teaches you how to be responsible with your money.
11. Embrace Your Faith
Everyone has different faiths and beliefs, which is your right in this country. However, one thing that you will learn is how to call on your higher power in times of adversity. Whether you are Christian, Muslim, or atheist, everyone has something that they can call on for strength and help.
12. Your “Real” Friends
It’s easy to have a lot of friends when everything is going grand. However, it’s the ones that stick with you when you have no money, have lost everything, and have no status to offer them that count. You will discover who is your true friend when you walk through the darkest times, and they still stand beside you.
13. Examine Your Heart
Once you fail, you have no choice but to look inside to see what might have caused you to have these disappointments. Analyzing the inside can help you move past the things that held you back, and you can succeed in the future.
14. Money and Prestige isn’t everything
How many times have you seen a movie or TV stars focus so much of their attention on their careers and the pursuit of money that they neglected their family? Having money in the bank and a few luxuries are understandable, but some people will trade everything for fame and fortune. If you lose your family but have a bank full of money, is it worth it?
15. Change Habits
A recent study found that 45 percent of your daily behaviors are forged from habits. If you have bad habits that could be holding you back, it’s time to evaluate them and learn methods to conquer those tendencies. Additionally, when you add new, better habits to the mix, you can achieve anything you set your mind to do.
Final Thoughts: Learn From Jim Carrey About How to Move on From Epic Fails
Your life will never be perfect, nor should you expect it to be. When you stumble and fall along life’s journey, it’s all about getting up and having the courage and strength to start again. Did you know that the famous actor Jim Carrey had many failures?
He is the winner of many People’s Choice and Golden Globe awards, yet he doesn’t even have a high school education. His family was so poor he had to drop out of school at 15 to be a janitor to help with finances. Carrey struggled with depression, anxiety, and the fear of failure.
In an interview, he stated that he used positive affirmations and visualization techniques to help him achieve his goals. Carrey is an outspoken believer in the Law of Attraction–using positive energy to attract the best in life. What’s your destiny? Where do you want to go in life? Don’t let your failures define your future. Using your life lessons, you have the power to overcome.
