A Letter to Failure

Hi,

I hope this letter finds you well. It's been quite a few months since our last encounter. Heavy doesn't adequately describe our moment if you ask me. Your arrival was abrupt, and you fleed amid the wreckage without warning. You left me stranded well beyond exurbia to feel depths of my emotions I’ve never traversed. You indeed left me shaken. However, with time, the overwhelming feeling came to pass. I feel inclined to let you know that my life is going exceptionally well at the moment. Mom's birthday was a few weeks ago. We loaded the gang up in a rental (even Kenzo Bean) and drove down to surprise her and dad for the weekend. It was one of the warmest moments I've experienced in a long time. As I sit and reflect, I cannot deny that our confrontation played a significant role in contributing to the warmth I observed that weekend.

I'm sure you might have felt this letter would consist of bitter emotions or me hurling spiteful words at you. That's not the case at all. I want to use this opportunity to express my gratitude and appreciation for our encounter because you taught me so much more than I was initially willing to discover. You see, I spent over two decades avoiding you at all cost - living this calculated life to prevent our paths from ever crossing. While I may have missed small milestones I set for myself throughout those years, the joke is on me because our encounter was inevitable, and you knew this all along. The nature of my upbringing caused me to develop this preconceived notion about you - the idea that I must consistently execute with precision or else others would perceive me as incompetent. What I ultimately failed to realize is you are one of the most substantial teachers life has to offer. Your visits come with lessons that incite emotions and feelings that are important to pay attention to as they may come in handy later down the road. Your unanticipated visits provide vivid reminders that life can happen unexpectedly to any of us. Your visits create spaces that enable vulnerable conversations to exist between individuals who experience you in similar ways. I've connected with some really amazing people simply because we share similar encounters with you.

My last run-in with you taught me to be okay with entering uncomfortable spaces because they have the potential to contribute to significant growth and self-awareness. Wisdom is a virtue that is not innate. One can only acquire it through experience. Our crossing of paths allowed me to become richer in wisdom. You taught me the importance of regaining my footing when the carpet gets pulled from beneath me. The pain associated with hitting rock bottom can be painful, but we are all guaranteed to experience discomfort at some point. How you respond to the discomfort is of momentous value. You've equipped me with brawny confidence since my last self-perceived demise. I wear it proudly now because it has created a refined framework of thinking that even others can pick up on. 

I want to thank you for surprising me the way you did because I would have evaded you had I had the slightest warning. You taught me that life consists of so much more. You pulled me out of a sheltered mindset. Life presents us with a plethora of paths that lead to a series of unique doors. Over time, our experiences produce keys to unlock each door. Each progression offers new obstacles that may be familiar or unknown, and the one thing I am certain I have complete control over is the way I conduct myself as I take each step in life's dance. My rhythm is always improving. Thanks to you, I've become a sounder version of myself. I know now that you didn't barge in to cause harm. You came to provide a series of lessons that would yield me a new perspective on life. In the event you try and pull the rug from beneath me again, I'll be better prepared because of the wisdom you bestowed on me from our last rendezvous. I'll close with a fitting quote from Napolean Hill that I stumbled into as I was writing you. 

"Most great people have achieved their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure." - Napoleon Hill

Until next time,

Constantine