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Who isn’t familiar with the fear of failure?
Who hasn’t had the late nights when you are up thinking about taking a plunge, venturing out on your own, and re-building your life?
This risk of failure—that overwhelming “no” that pierces our thoughts—and the fear of judgment from the world can be big enough to make some of us continue to live unfulfilled and unsatisfied lives.
These sensations and thoughts will do one of two things: Numb us and defeat the scream inside of us that yearns to be heard, as its call will help us reach our aspirations and dreams, or push us to plunge headfirst and take that risk.
This was the theme of Charlie Day’s awesome commencement speech, given at Merrimack College, a few years back.
The words still ring true today:
Will you fail at certain junctions? Of course.
Will you need support? Duh.
Will you regret taking that plunge when you are 90 years old and reflecting on your life? Hell no!
You have one life, a series of moments and breaths that are never guaranteed to us beyond the present moment.
Will you choose to die while you are living? Or will you choose to live?
If you choose to live then:
“Do what makes you great…fail in the place you want to fail…because without this struggle, what is your success anyway?” ~ Charlie Day
Author: Rajni Tripathi
Image: YouTube
Editor: Callie Rushton
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Hey, thanks so much for reading! Elephant offers 1 article every month for free.
If you want more, grab a subscription for unlimited reads for $5/year (normally, it's $108/year, and the discount ends soon).
And clearly you appreciate mindfulness with a sense of humor and integrity! Why not join the Elephant community, become an Elephriend?
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