Note on Failure

Human life is a roller coaster which is a sequence of rise and fall. Life
challenges us, makes us try different things every day and in some cases we
fail while in others we succeed. It’s called experience. However, we don’t
usually see it just like that — our failures, an inevitable part on the path of
personal development and growth, make us feel guilty, ashamed and
frustrated and are viewed as setbacks and defeat.

But is it right and reasonable to feel like that?

While some people believe that failure is a result of poor determination I'll
repeat once again that it is just an indispensable step on the way to one’s
goal. No one is insured against failures. Besides, our wrongs often are not a
result of our personal incapability, or lack of motivation and skill but a
combination of certain unfortunate circumstances that are out of our control.

Failure is hardly proof of anything as there are so many different factors that
influence the outcome of our actions and tries. Believing that you are the
master of your life who can control and manage everything is a dangerous
misconception that can lead to depression and even suicide. Mark Fisher,
American writer and theorist, wrote about that in an article “Good for nothing”.
He mentioned that this way of thinking is produced by the capitalist ideology
and social class system which creates a discrepancy between ideas about
our opportunities imposed by the society and our real opportunities and all the
other prerequisites that were significant in our personal development. That’s
why sometimes what we regard as personal failure is just a predetermined
inability to fulfill roles which are earmarked for the dominant group.

This applies equally to art. There are many different things that affect the
result of our activities, especially if we deal with creativity. If you produce
something not only for yourself but for other people as well, your success or
failure largely depends on their subjective perception. When you’re going to
reveal your work of art you should be very careful choosing the proper time,
place and audience. Though your artwork might be a masterpiece, it won’t be
noticed and appreciated if you failed there. For example, it’s well-known that
J.K. Rowling, one of the richest and most famous writers in the world, got
rejections from 12 publishers before the first “Harry Potter” book was
approved and published in 1997. In a few years it became the best-selling
book series in history with half a billion copies sold.
It's important to remember that our mistakes are no less important and
significant than our successes because when we fail we learn to deal with it,
rise and move forward despite everything. I'm not trying to persuade you to
fail more — it will happen at some point anyway — just encourage you to
judge yourself and your actions from a different perspective and to have less
fear of disappointing anybody, including yourself.