Like many families on Thanksgiving, my parents and I had a tradition: at the table, before tucking into our turkey and trimmings, we would each share something for which we were grateful. I’m sure many of you reading this blog do something similar.
Our things-to-be-grateful-for were almost always connected to relationships: the love, friendship, and support that had sustained us over the past year. Occasionally, the list included material objects (like that one time I was thankful for my new yellow VW Beetle!), or personal successes (like retirement, or finally finishing that never-ending thesis)…but without fail, the things we said around that overflowing holiday table were always positive. We were grateful for success. For plenty. For achievement.
Of course, it’s good to remind ourselves of all we have, of everything good in our lives. But this Thanksgiving, I’d like to remind everyone (including myself!) that growth doesn’t happen when things go as we want them to. When things go well, they also go unexamined. In my life, it has been the missteps, the bad choices, and the disappointments that have led me to understand myself better. In failure, I have been forced to re-evaluate, and ask myself tough questions.
So, this Thanksgiving, I am going to hold up a failure to the light, and be grateful for it. A disappointing relationship that made me the strong woman I am today. The loss of a professional opportunity that spurred me on to make a debut I would never have hoped for in my wildest dreams. A vocal problem that, as I unraveled it, helped me correct technical errors I didn’t know I was making. I’m going to acknowledge that I have a long history of turning defeats into success…and I’m sure you do, too. That history, that evolution, is something to be truly grateful for.
Let’s talk: what failure are you grateful for?
Image by Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay
