
I’m sure you’ve heard the quote about this quote.
The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. — Nelson Mandela
But have you thought about what it means?
We’ve all tripped at one time or another. We’ve all been through our hard times. This can be as small as messing up a quiz or as big as losing someone close to you.
We all fail at something, but that’s not where greatness is. How we react when we fail is what makes us great.
I used to be afraid to fail. But then I realized that if I wanted to be successful, I had to fail first and build my skills through trial and error. If I just focused on not failing, it would take me much longer to get anywhere than if I knew how to fail and get back up again.
We all have to fall. We can’t know everything. I’m not saying life is supposed to be easy either. We all get knocked down and thrown around sometimes. But we can choose how we respond to those times.
There’s no reason for us to give up because we feel weak and defeated. All of us have gone through tough times in our lives, but that doesn’t mean life is over or that our ability to move forward is any less than if we had never hit the ground.
When you fall and hit the ground, the secret to getting back up isn’t to decide that you’re done; it’s to decide that you’re not finished.
We all have something we can learn from our failures. We have all made choices that didn’t work out in our favor, but just because one of them didn’t go your way doesn’t mean they weren’t worth trying. It just means that you aren’t finished. You aren’t done living and learning yet.
The secret isn’t to go down but to always come back up.
I’m not saying that everything you do is perfect… nor am I saying that everything you do will lead to success.
But there’s no reason for us to give up because we feel weak and defeated.
All of us have gone through tough times in our lives, but that doesn’t mean life is over or that our ability to move forward is any less than if we had never hit the ground.
—
This post was previously published on medium.com.
***
You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project:
White Fragility: Talking to White People About Racism |
Escape the “Act Like a Man” Box |
The Lack of Gentle Platonic Touch in Men’s Lives is a Killer |
![]() |
—
Photo credit: Jukan Tateisi on Unsplash
White Fragility: Talking to White People About Racism
Escape the “Act Like a Man” Box
The Lack of Gentle Platonic Touch in Men’s Lives is a Killer
