Game Over
Failure is a tough result to accept, no matter how many quotes you read about it. I've failed to reach goals so many times that I start to think there's an invisible barrier that prevents me from getting what it is I want.
In truth, I rarely don't get what I want. I'm blessed in having so much freedom, so much wealth, that I can afford food, clothing and shelter as well as writing apparatus and musical instruments. I'm not lacking in time: I work for eight hours a day and have eight to ten free hours to use as I see fit. What's more, there is no reason why those eight hours cannot be spent playing video games and eating whatever takeout I fancy.
So yes, I do have the means to get what I want. The trouble seems to be that I want different things at different times. I am like a team with members who push and pull in all sorts of directions. The result is that I seem to be stuck in a plateau because they cancel each others' efforts out.
Perhaps I need to be honest about what it is I want, and to accept the contradictory nature of some desires. We tend to boil this tension down to a matter of instant versus delayed gratification. But the choices I face aren't between a candy bar today or two candy bars tomorrow but rather between an apple today and an uncertain number of oranges tomorrow.
Another aspect to feelings of having failed is the possibility that the feeling does not reflect reality. If I push myself daily, a day where rest is needed feels like a failure when in reality it is merely part of a process.
The results don't lie, true: if you fail to reach your goals, then you black-on-white proof that you have failed. But it's important to keep in mind that you have failed at that one goal. There may be many variables that you have no control of and that you are unaware of that affected the result. Furthermore, that result is another datum to incorporate when assessing what comes next.
Every great game has to frustrate us at some point in order to cajole us into doing better and overcoming whatever challenge we face. Just press start and try again.
