You should never fail.
This has been the mindset that some people instill in their children. May it be school, work, or probably a business venture it has ingrained this idea in us.
Failure is not an option to some and at times it holds true, especially in life and death situations. Maybe this is why I never ever dreamt of being in the medical field when I was studying in college. Back then, nursing courses were in-demand and a lot of my classmates went on this route.
Our high school is near a hospital, thus they gave scholarships to some.
But as we go in life, little do we understand that failure is an inevitable process.
In one of the verses of the song Tao Lang by Loonie and Quest Madadapa ka muna bago ka matutong lumakad - You will fall first before you can start walking it reminds everyone that there is a process to be followed to achieve one's goal.
How do I see failure?
I see them as a disappointment, not only to myself but to the surrounding people. I am getting stressed and my system shuts down automatically.
At work, I recall a case where the compliance team did not submit tax exemption documents on time. It is my account, and because I wasn't able to review it properly, taxes were charged and then got disputed afterward.
It was a chain of multiple emails and phone calls. This got escalated to the vice president of operations as well and I received an incident report which hindered my promotion. The cool-off period was one year, and I waited for almost two years to get that promotion.
What changed after?
From the moment that I got an escalation, as of writing now I am the key person for exemption documents. It was a good wake-up call for me to do the job further because of that failure.
Reflecting on that, I can say that in order for us to grow, we need to fail at times. If you haven't experienced defeat, one way or another you will.
You can also learn from the failures of others so that you can avoid them hopefully. But then again, experiencing it personally can give you a chance to see yourself grow. Learn from them and move forward in life.