Embracing Failure as Part of the Creative Journey

We often hear that failure is not the end, but it might not be the beginning either. Maybe it’s just another point, much like success, along the journey. This can be difficult to accept because we all strive for success of course. We work hard, we learn, and we push ourselves towards our goals. Yet, I’ve realized developing a sense of peace around failure and creating an individualized strategy to greet it is crucial for personal growth.

When confronted with failure, I find it helpful to ask myself and others a series of questions. What can I learn from this experience? What might I need to unlearn? What should I walk away from, and what should I return to? These questions help me navigate the aftermath of failure and turn it into an opportunity for growth and reflection. We all need to develop our own unique attitude towards failure, but it is important to have some strategy in place. 

Also, in a society that is obsessed with success, it’s also enriching to look at completely different viewpoints towards failure. Writer Arundhati Roy offers one that we need to consider carefully and absorb. She writes, “There are other worlds. Other kinds of dreams. Dreams in which failure is feasible, honorable, sometimes even worth striving for. Worlds in which recognition is not the only barometer of brilliance or human worth. There are plenty of warriors I know and love, people far more valuable than myself, who go to war each day, knowing in advance that they will fail. True, they are less ‘successful’ in the most vulgar sense of the word, but by no means less fulfilled.”

Roy’s words remind us there is value in the journey itself, regardless of the outcome. And that’s certainly important for creatives to understand and embody given the unpredictable nature of their path. 

In my own journey and the transition from journalism to learning how to write fiction, I have come to see supposed failure as an opportunity to pause and reflect, to take a moment to ask questions, and figure out how to move forward. It’s also a reminder that success is not the only measure of our worth, or growth. 

The path of a creative is rarely straightforward. There will be ups and downs, moments of inspiration and support, as well as periods of doubt and angst. By embracing failure as a natural part of the process, we can navigate these fluctuations. 

So, as a reminder to myself as much as to you reading this, let’s keep flowing and creating with love, joy, excitement, curiosity, and in the spirit of serving something larger than our egos. Whether our efforts are met with failure, success, or something in-between, what eventually matters are the experiences that come along the way, the scenery we pass through, what we learn, and the continued strolling and jogging along the path.