I want you to fail.

That’s right, you heard this 100% correct I want you to fail. I’m an optimistic person, and I always seem to find a silver lining in every situation. The truth is…I want you to fail, and I want to continue failing myself.

It seems like such a negative thing to say, but in all reality a life without failure is a life that hasn’t even begun.

Here’s the truth I literally fail myself daily. Whether I push snooze one too many times, or let my laundry build up, or not being able to complete my chores, or I fail to work out 110% I find a way to disappoint myself daily. Maybe these aren’t these catastrophic failures, yet in my book I’m still failing.

Early on in life I was taught not to fail, if you fail, then it’s probably intentional and it’s a lack of try. If you succeed there’s a reward, and here we are stuck in a society full of consolation prizes, resulting in success seeming less than glamorous.

Which is why we are trapped in a world that only feels the need to show each other the highlight reels in each of our lives. I see it every day on social media people who reel their success stories, and live their dreams out. Yet, I never see the failures behind the success or the trials it took to achieve a successful point. We are all stuck with this idea that we are in a constant competition with each other to showcase who is living a better life that week. Society has us hiding behind the easy parts, and the pretty filters but I never get to see into the lives’ of others as something more…only success. I struggle with things that are completely different from the next person.Being raised to have compassion, and encourage others even as they fail. Life isn’t about having perfect filters, and the best lighting. It’s about embracing our failures and courageously and sincerely hoping you are growing and learning. Life isn’t about the highlight reels, as humans it should be about joy, fear, frustrations, along with celebrations. There shouldn’t be shame in the weak moments, and dark times. This idea of being in constant competition with each other is absurd. We should take time to build each other up whether it’s celebrating success or  helping each other learn from failure.

The truth is failure and success are not the end of the road, they are not two separate places that you chose as a destination. There is not a right and wrong decision in every choice that you make. We need to accept failure as part of every journey we’re on because failure shouldn’t automatically mean losing. A friend once told me that failure is like a bruise, not a tattoo. It’s not a permanent fixture in your life, you recover from it and move on. Failure means you are constantly learning, maybe you’re constantly learning how to do things the wrong way, but at least you’re narrowing down the options. Every time I fail I learn something new about myself, it’s part of this road of self-discovery I’m on.

So, what is it I’m learning from this never-ending path of failure? I’ve learned that sometimes the things I thought I wanted weren’t really what I was after. I learn that even though I thought I was committed sometimes your heart really isn’t in it. Failing means I have something to work towards, something to work harder on. Failure means I’ve learned to embrace the hiccups in life, understanding sometimes the timing isn’t right. Adjusting to failure isn’t just something that losers do after they strike out, it’s something champions do on their road to victory.

Failing means I’m pushing myself out of my comfort zone, and embracing the life I desire to live. It means I’m growing as a person, and holding on to the dreams I aspire to live out. A life without failure is a mediocre life, filled with people who strive to be nothing greater than content. Life is too short to live an average life, nothing great was ever done without some form of failure along the way. I hope you find a new way to fail yourself daily, a new light to get you out of bed in the morning. I wish you a life that has rejection, and failure so you continue to push yourself and morph into the exceptional human you were called to be. I wish you a successful ending journey, trickled with failure along the way, because you weren’t put in this world to be ordinary.