Failure is part of the journey to success. As cheesy as that may sound, it builds character and resilience. Often times, we react negatively to failure and let ourselves give up as a result. However, if we change our mindset about how we react to negative situations in our life, it could actually help in the long run.

I’ve often thought of the potential that individuals have to be the best person they can be, yet settle for something less than that because they’re afraid to fail. I’ve heard many people talk about things they’d like to accomplish, yet only leave it as a dream for someone else to live. What exactly is holding them back from reaching those things? Could it be that the only thing holding you back from your true potential is yourself? Because if you really put effort and dedication, it’s achievable.

If you could do anything in the world, knowing you wouldn’t face any obstacle, would you pursue it? If so, is it different than your reality? We don’t manifest our dreams into reality because of our irrational fear of failing. However, you never know just what you could be if you don’t try.

American football quarterback for the Super Bowl champions Philadelphia Eagles, Nick Foles talked about the importance of failure in our lives and how that betters us as human beings. “When you look at it, you have a bad day, you think your life isn’t as good, you’re failing. Failure is a part of life. It’s a part of building character and growing. Without failure, who would you be? I wouldn’t be up here if I hadn’t fallen thousands of times, made mistakes. We all are human. We all have weaknesses.”

Every individual goes through obstacles, but the important thing to do is not to give up when it gets difficult. Just like Foles, we should be able to make mistakes and fail a thousand times, yet get back up and finish what we started.