When was the last time you fell flat on your face? Frankly, I try to make sure I do this every day. If everything gets better in practice, failing is a great practice to learn.
Because what is the worst that can happen? That you get another chance to try again? Or you get the confirmation that you don't want to try again and give up. Both are fantastic results.
"Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself." — Charlie Chaplin
What I find especially important about this quote is the courage to make a fool of yourself. In a world where everything needs to be manicured and Instagram-worthy, we lose the foolish part in trying new things. There is a strength in making light of a situation, especially if it is something you want the result to be good.
But rather than looking at outcomes as good or bad, can we look at is as done or not done? As happened, or not happened? And detach ourselves from the need to deem is as right or wrong?
One thing I like to reflect on is which parts of my life I will capture as an Instagram story, and what makes it to the actual feed that lives permanently on my social media page. Every day we assess the worthiness of what matters in our lives and what deserves extra praise.
But what are those things that we hide, that we pretend didn't happen? Usually it is an embarrassing moment, a disappointment, something we don't want to point out.
I believe that having the courage to fail and make a fool of yourself also requires the strength to ditch perfection, and if we go even deeper, the need to be good.
How often do we do things just so we can get the photo to post and have others comment, saying we did a good job and we look so good? When the validation comes from somewhere outside yourself, it will never feel enough.
Here's a courageous challenge - either choose to post everything, or post nothing for a week, and observe your behaviour. Are you cringing at all the things you are posting, questioning whether they should be on your page, what people might think? Or are you taking photos and saving them on your phone wishing you could post them because you crave the likes and comments of specific people in your DMs? I know the feeling, from both sides.
The best way to learn from yourself is to test and observe. Let me know in the comments what showed up for you!