Don’t believe if they tell you that your life is full of ups and downs. No. It’s all about victories and important discoveries. You either learn or… you lose! Success is a bad teacher. Mistakes and failures teach us to clarify what we really want and how we want to live. They can change our outlook and our attitude to what is happening around.

Think of the life lessons you’ve been taught. Sure that you learned them the hard way. Rash acts, sincere misbeliefs, hasty decisions and excessive credulity are the things that shaped us the way we are. Every fault causes analysis and search for an alternative. The feelings of failure and guilt become so large that we don’t have the courage to try again.

Moreover, an error is a great guide to our self-knowledge. Failed relationships help us to understand who we truly need, troubles at work make us a step closer to our dream, betrayals help to find true friends. More than that, thanks to mistakes made in the past we learn to appreciate all the good things in the present. And that’s because we already know how things go sometimes.

Now, imagine your life as an autobiography. What kind of book would it be like – fascinating memoirs or a tedious instruction on how to live a life avoiding problems and difficulties?

Famous peoples’ biographies prove the fact that you can’t achieve something really worthwhile without stumbling, whether it be Steve Jobs, Henry Ford or Mark Zuckerberg. The only difference is that some back down and others go ahead in spite of obstacles.

We are all wrong sometimes – there aren’t exceptions in this rule. If so, you’ll be more tolerant and less categorical next time when your colleague makes a mistake. After all, this may happen to you, too. I’m absolutely sure that failure and motivation always come together. Mistakes can inspire us to greater efforts and progress.

At least, we are all just people who have only one life and who do their best to live it happily.

Diana T.