Do not be bogged down with failure, it is just the other side of success

Roopleen Prasad

08-September-2011

Vol 2 | Issue 36

Life is a roller-coaster, full of unpredictable ups and downs. Sometimes when the downs get really down, we tend to lose all hope and feel that nothing is going to work out. We feel like giving up.

Success and failure are two sides of the same coin. When you venture out on the journey of life, you are bound to face failure enroute. Many people fail to achieve their goals because they lose hope much ahead of their deadlines.

They fail because they think that they will fail and give up long before it is all over. It’s all in the mind.

When you give up hope, you close doors to opportunity, discard your dreams, stop your progress, curb your enthusiasm and shut doors to accomplishment. In short, you bring your journey of success to a screeching halt.

Edison beautifully put it as, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

When J.K Rowling’s life went topsy turvy after she had a failed marriage, was jobless with a dependent child, yet she did not give up. In her own words, “the rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”

She held on to hope and directed all her energies to the completion of her dream project of ‘Harry Porter.’ Ultimately her motivation and determination helped her achieve stupendous success which was beyond imagination.

Often life's tough struggle lets you down and leaves a void in you. However, hope is what keeps you going through hard times and gives you the courage to carry on. If you believe that tomorrow will be better, you can bear a hardship today.

As Marian Zimmer Bradley has said, “The road that is built in hope is more pleasant to the traveler than the road built in despair, even though they both lead to the same destination.”

In his early life, Abraham Lincoln faced a series of setbacks - he failed in business, was defeated for legislature, had a nervous breakdown, was defeated in the elections for Speaker, Elector, Congress, Senate and Vice-President.

He could have given up hope and the world would never have known one of America’s greatest Presidents. However, Lincoln kept going strong- all because of hope.

History is replete with examples of those who held onto hope in times of adversity, when everything seemed dark and bleak, and from great depths of difficulties emerged and succeeded.

Never lose hope under any condition for every cloud has a silver lining. It is well known that when Walt Disney was fired from his job at a newspaper company for being simple and lacking ideas, he did not get disheartened. Instead, he came up with the concept of Disneyland.

Although he faced many hardships, Walt didn’t lose hope and remained steadfast. He firmly believed that he could develop Disneyland. His ability to never give up helped him turn his dream into a reality.

In your darkest moments, hope can light a ray of expectation. It can pull you out of the deep trenches of gloom and disappointment. Life is all about hope - the impossible becomes possible; the unattainable becomes attainable.

To hope, is to breathe life, to free your mind from fear and pessimism and fill it with optimism and positive thinking. So, no matter how difficult your life gets, never deprive yourself of hope. In those testing times, remind yourself that setbacks are only temporary and that the highs are not far away.

Never let go of hope.

The Author is a Motivational counselor, Speaker, Ophthalmologist, and Author of 'Principles of Success made easy-14 easy steps to climb the ladder of success.'