Are you aware that the very fact that we’re walking (a task we often take for granted) is in itself alone, proof of our tenacity and overcoming life’s challenges. It also helps us gain a fresh insight at the way we view our fights of life while giving us a new role model – a baby.

Studies have shown that babies fall approximately 5000 times before they learn how to walk. Talking about baby steps, it seems there are more falls and pain involved in a baby’s walk process even before their very first step. And what exactly are these falls to a baby attempting to walk? Failures, failures and failures. Each one of these falls represents a failure in the simplest of tasks the baby is attempting. But, look and observe the baby’s attitude towards failure. They welcome the fall, laughing and giggling, unashamed, all these while enjoying themselves. Sometimes, they even clap their hands almost to celebrate their failure or their effort in attempting.What happens next is amazingly remarkable. They will always try to stand up again, hold their balance, maybe wobble unstably for a few steps, advancing crookedly, before they are back on the floor again. And often, a baby’s attempts and failures at walking are accompanied by laughter and cheers from the onlookers.

Since when did we start to take failures so negatively? And as a result of this viewpoint, we stay within our comfort zone, with no new ventures, ambitions or attempts to break through. We allow the fear of failures to contain us within our current lifestyles, and settle for life’s status quo. And even as onlookers, we have changed too. Instead of being ever encouraging and happy when we see someone fail and stand up again, we end up playing the devil’s advocate, painting forth the worst case scenario for the other person, warning him or her about how damaging this attempt could be and so on so forth.

Let us all break free from the slavery of fear, and celebrate failures. For through failures, we grow. Only with failures, can we boast of our achievements and victories. For what good is an achievement if there was no pain involved in getting it? What pride is there in a trophy that came without competition? Let us embrace the fight of life with gladness, knowing that whatever doesn’t break us, only makes us stronger. What we learn through failure becomes a precious part of us, strengthening us in everything we do. So let the tough things make you tougher!

A great man whose invention allows us all to enjoy the activities we wish to engage in at night once said,

“I had to succeed because I have run out things which didn’t work.”

Thomas Edison

The co-Founder and ex-CEO of Apple Inc. once said,

“I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”

Steve Jobs

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