I’m sure you are sick of people telling you that failures and setbacks are important because it makes you appreciate the successful moments even more…right? Well, unfortunately for you, you’ll need to hear about it again as I am here to confirm that theory!
We live in a world where people are able to easily “post” good news to share with everyone in their social circle. While said post may receive hundreds of likes, what’s hiding behind this glorious piece of good news is probably an array of setbacks. You’ll probably never see a post about those, however.
It’s easy to scroll through Facebook and Instagram and feel discouraged by the seemingly picture-perfect photos and glamorous statuses. I promise you, however, you aren’t the only one who had a fight with their best friend, got rejected from a top choice school or felt lonely on a Friday night.
If in reading this blog post you still can picture someone in your brain who seems to have it all with little to no failures, I want to remind you that living a life devoid of obstacles will inhibit them from being able to deal with challenges that await them down the road. Setbacks are essential and productive in order to lead a meaningful life. If you are never faced with a failure, you’ll never know what it truly feels like to relish in a much deserved and needed success. Also, I’m weary of people who don’t face setbacks as you can never be truly sure how they’ll react in any given difficult situation.
I would be especially suspicious of someone in the arts who has never had their fair share of failures or setbacks. These are absolutely essential to an artist. We all know how it feels to fall flat on our face in an audition only to book a huge gig the following week. It’s a give and take that keeps us hungry and coming back for more.
Celebrate your setbacks and be kind to those around you because you don’t know what struggles they are facing day-to-day. Learning from setbacks as opposed to being surprised when one happens is the key to a successful career in the arts.
I was recently reminded of when a Princeton professor (Johannes Haushofer) posted his resume of all of his memorable failures. You can read the resume here. He lists degree programs he did not get into, academic positions he was denied from and more. He did this in order to help a friend who recently had a huge setback and was feeling very down. When he shared this publicly there was a huge social media frenzy surrounding the post. It made people feel better about their own pitfalls.
Do I think you need to make a resume filled with failures to either ground yourself or brighten up a friend’s day? No. What I do hope you’ll take from the failure resume and this post is the ability to look a failure straight in the eye and pull from it any valuable insight you can. Make mental notes of what you can learn for next time. “Like” a friend’s status about landing the lead role in the school play and know that today she is happy and in turn be earnestly happy for her as well. Today she had a wonderful day and who knows what tomorrow holds for you and her.
Fight through the tough obstacles. Your success is right around the corner.
