Failure Or Opportunity

Henry Ford said: “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” No one ever really fails at anything unless you decide to just give up. When something doesn’t go as planned in our lives, we can choose to learn from our mistakes and continue to make great choices, or we can stop after the first mistake and stay stagnate the rest of our lives.

In college, I was a vocal performance major. I loved to sing and still do. Every year, my university puts on a huge musical event in which most students participate with their social clubs. A few people are chosen as hosts and hostesses of the event. These Hosts and hostesses sing solos throughout the production. Only 5 or so people are picked to do this every year. You have to audition with multiple songs and truly be on top of your game.

Ever since I was a little girl, I had dreamed of being a hostess. I would sing into a hairbrush and pretend to be up on the stage. So when I was a freshman, I auditioned. I was not even asked back for the first round of callbacks. I was heartbroken; I had dreamed of this moment. I picked myself up, participated in the show with my social club and looked to next year when I could audition again. Sophomore year, I had great songs; I was ready to go. That year, I did get a callback and got to audition again. Yet, I still didn’t make it.

By the time my junior year rolled around, I was more determined than ever. This is a dream that I would see through to the end. I hired the best vocal performance coach I could find, and every week we practiced. Song technique, stage presence, vocal exercises. This year’s show was going to be more important than ever. It would be the 25th anniversary of the show for my university. Choosing the hosts and hostesses would be the most intensive audition ever.

I was ready; I had chosen two songs: “At Last” by Etta James and “Something to Talk About” by Bonnie Raitt. I had never felt more confident. I stepped on that stage and my hard work paid off. My dream of becoming a hostess had finally been realized. That was truly one of the highlights of my college life. I was so happy that I had put the hard work in to something I loved and got to see it through to the end.

The same premise can be applied to all aspects of our lives. Whether it’s that next promotion, continuing a healthy lifestyle, or training to run that marathon, we will all face failure in this life. You can choose to stay down or you can view it as an opportunity to keep going.

This week’s recipe is a great meal to help you stay focused on continuing on your journey to better health (even if we did over indulge in Easter jelly beans last week). Keep up the good work my friends! You have achieved so much already!
“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6