Losing gives us the opportunity to grow

While watching some exciting parts of a couple of football games, I couldn't help but think of the joy of those who win and the disappointment of those who lose. I recall those words used incessantly several years ago, "The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat."

But, winning and losing are part of life. Some student is number one in the class, and someone ends up on the other end of the scale. Someone is chosen for a certain position, and another has to continue sending out resumes. One person receives a "Yes" from one he loves, another has to keep on the dating scene. That's just life! And if we are wise, we will learn from our rejections as well as successes. In fact, we may be able to learn more from our losses than our wins.

Sometimes it may appear that some are blessed with always winning, but we may never know the losses they have faced and overcome. After a significant failure, it would be easy to give up, to blame our failure on circumstances, bad luck, or the actions of others. In the ebb and flow of winning and losing, we can learn to persevere. "Failing forward" is how one person viewed it - using small or large failures to propel us to the next level. We don't have the luxury of viewing tapes of our actions which indicate what caused failure, such as sports teams can look at videos of entire games and see where weaknesses occurred and where strengths were shown.

We do have minds to replay our actions, and if we are wise, will use those memories to help us overcome what appears to be failure by making changes, choosing different strategies, and determining not to allow the failure to happen again. Many have learned that successes come following what appeared to be near disaster, and that is the reason it is so important to try and see the big picture and not allow what we consider a failure to keep us from the momentum of moving forward.

It is in losing that we discover our true character, and makes us hungry to try again. For failure is sometimes a mindset, a habit that we have to change or overcome.

Few people enjoy the agony of defeat, but if we don't give up, we have the possibility of achieving what we may have thought was impossible - the thrill of victory!

Care to comment? Write to Chuck Randle at news@gulfbreezenews. com.