FRICK FAILURE FRIDAY

I’d like to take some time and celebrate failure. I know, most “normal” people don’t celebrate failure. Most people want to shrivel up and disappear when they fail. They would much rather forget failure, than celebrate it. Some people are so traumatized by failure, that they never venture out and try anything after failing. Failure is usually looked upon as negative, but I disagree. I fully believe, that failure is necessary in order to succeed.

I’ll start by sharing a failure of mine this week. It’s something I call the “family effect.” The family effect is when we treat others in our lives better than family. Yes. I did this, yesterday. My oldest called on his way home from Tech School yesterday. He was pretty excited and happy and was telling me his plans for the weekend. I ask both my sons to share their weekend plans so I know what they’re doing. This way I can either make my own plans or do stuff with them. Well my oldest had planned on going somewhere with a friend on Sunday, quite far away. All I thought about was the over $300 I had spent just yesterday filling up 4 vehicles we own with gas/diesel. Two beaters, my van, and my suburban. Yikes! $300 in one day is a lot on fuel! So I only saw the other 2 tanks I would be spending money on when my oldest would be driving on Sunday, not to mention the 2 tanks I’ll be using taking everyone skiing this weekend in Wausau. That’s like $500. In the matter of 4 days! Ok. I’m not working. I’m busy everyday trying to write a kick a$$ book at home. So instead of being kind to my oldest, I kinda lost it. He of course was immediately sorry he called and we quickly said “I love you” and hung up. I was driving at the time with my youngest and he was like “geeze mom. I’m sorry.” I treated friends better than my son that day. Why is that? Why do we take stuff out on our family when we should just take a minute and think about it? I think it’s because we know they’re not going away, and we want respect, or someone who loves us to see us struggling and not add to our stress. But we can't always have everything the way we want it. I wished I would have celebrated the first time my oldest called to tell me his plans.

The minute me and my oldest hung up, my youngest and I pulled into our driveway at home. I got out of the vehicle and immediately put my hiking boots on. I left and took my frustration out on the hills just south of my house. It was cold and I was trucking, so it took my focus off feeling terrible. I got to the top and looked out. I still felt terrible. I even got a call from my boyfriend who could sense something was wrong. He reminded me that I can lean on him when I struggle. We hung up and I felt better, but kind of worse. Why do we blow up at the people we love? Why don’t we just take care of ourselves before losing it with someone who was trying to do something you asked? My son was actually calling to do something I asked him to do. Tell me his plans for The Weeknd. By the time my hike was over, I did feel better. I decided to give myself a break and remember the things I am thankful for. Thanks for that advice David (😘). Who cares about money. If something happened to my son on his way home, I would have lived with my blow-up failure forever. As soon as I got home, I apologized and the night was very nice.

Failing is ok. Failing to process through things, is a missed opportunity to take some time with your feelings and yourself. None of us are perfect. But before the next blow-up, I’m going to (hopefully) take a hike first and remember my blessings.

Yes. Happy Amy fails. Yes, failures can make us better next time, IF we learn from them and not become defeated by them. Today, try celebrating a failure. Forgive yourself, apologize to those you hurt, and keep moving forward with plans to be a better you. If we never fail at anything, it would mean we're too busy living comfortably in a place where nothing ever grows - our comfort zone. Get out there and fail, so you can succeed!

~HappyAmy

This was Cooter sleeping as if he's never failed at anything...