Sometimes, things don’t go our way.
We have an idea of how we think things are going to go. But in the end, life rarely goes exactly as we think it will.
When things don’t go our way, we have a choice.
On Monday, Olivia went to Buffalo to see the solar eclipse. After all, it was a pretty spectacular event.
But she knew that she was going to have to rush back.
We had a podcast recording scheduled for six o’clock that evening. And with traffic from the city, it was nearly a seven hour drive.
She made it back to her place, returned her rental car, and got everything done that she needed to get done so she could make the podcast on time.
She amazes me!
But when she signed in for the podcast, the recording just kept dropping her.
I knew I was going to have to do a lot of editing because of it, but that’s just how things go sometimes.
Olivia was super frustrated because she rushed to be there, and she really wanted to be on the podcast with the guest that we invited.
But sadly, everything just kind of fell apart.
She tried reconnecting eight times, but no matter what she did, it would not work.
So, finally, I just kept moving forward in a conversation with our guest by myself.
There’s not much else we could have done. The show must go on.
Even the best of intentions can end up failing.
As I continued the conversation with our guest, about 25 minutes into it, I was knocked out of the program.
I was quickly able to reconnect, and we went on with the discussion without any further disruptions.
That is—until I went to upload the recording.
It said that it was recording, but sadly, it didn’t actually record, and we lost that entire segment.
So, basically, we invited this incredible woman to be our guest on our podcast, and we lost nearly everything.
It was (and still is) embarrassing.
When it’s just Olivia and I who are doing the recording, we can just redo things if something like this happens.
But it adds another degree of difficulty when you have guests that are giving up their valuable time to come onto your podcast.
I was hoping that after we were done recording, it would just quickly upload. But it was to no avail.
We spent an entire hour of our guest’s time, and we were unable to use any of it.
When things don’t go our way, we can try, try again.
When I called Olivia after the interview to tell her the bad news, she was equally upset and embarrassed.
We both felt we had wasted this woman’s precious time.
But, in the end, we had to recognize that there are going to be times when things just don’t go our way.
And, let’s be honest, those times are probably going to happen more than we would like them to.
But we can’t get upset about it. Frustration isn’t going to solve anything. Honestly, it’s more likely that it’s just going to make the situation worse.
Frustration and anger keep us stuck.
No amount of frustration is going to give that hour back to our guest or make the recording usable.
In the end, it does no good to get upset about things we have no control over.
So, we have to stop trying to control the things we can’t do and focus on what we can do.
And what we can do is we can try, try again.
We need to be okay with failure.
Despite the embarrassment of the situation, I sent an email the very next day to that same woman.
I graciously asked her if she would be willing to come on again and rerecord her episode because it failed.
I think it’s important to note that we didn’t fail—what we were doing failed.
We need to let go of those negative labels we give ourselves and call things what they are.
Failure is a natural part of life. But none of us are failures.
Yes, sometimes, the things we do will fail. But the fact that we even tried in the first place shows that we are anything but failures.
Failing means we were willing to try in the first place. That makes us doers.
Sometimes, it takes a few failed attempts before we achieve success, but that’s how we learn and gain experience.
Failure means growth.
Even when we mess up, even when things don’t go our way, we have to keep trying.
That’s how we grow.
If we’re not failing, we’re not growing. It’s really that simple.
Growth doesn’t come from standing still.
And moving forward despite the setbacks is how we know that we’re doing okay.
It’s a big deal when we can say to ourselves, “It’s going to be okay. I’m okay, and next time, I’m going to try to do better.”
Failure requires action, and the growth that comes from those actions is what keeps us moving forward.
Every failure we experience will provide valuable growth that we can’t get any other way.
It’s the “growing pains” of life.
But every time we are able to get back up again, wipe off our dusty knees, and keep walking, we are winning at life.
And it’s those small wins that keep pushing us forward down life’s unexpected paths.
Even when things don’t go our way, we have to keep putting one foot in front of the other. It’s the movement itself that keeps us on the road to success.
Sure, in the moment, it feels horrible when you mess something up or when something you do fails.
But use it as a learning experience and allow yourself to grow.
When things don’t go our way, smile anyway.
Don’t let those moments of failure run you over to the point where you can’t move forward.
Remember that everybody has struggles.
Everyone has experienced failure.
The best thing we can do is give ourselves grace—and give others grace, too.
As I said before, failure is a natural part of being human.
We can’t control when failure comes. If we could control failure, no one would ever experience it.
No one wants to fail, but inevitably, it will happen to each of us at some time in our lives.
So when failure does happen, pat yourself on the back for trying, remind yourself that you’re human, put a smile on your face, and above all, try, try again.
