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01/15/2005: "Failing"

It’s January 15th and already I’m failing at my New Year’s resolutions.

I had resolved to eat healthy and exercise more. But yesterday I had cheese and Triscuits for breakfast, then snacked on goldfish and raisinets throughout the day. For dinner I started well, with a salad, but then followed it with a bowl of tomato soup then a plate of cheese nachos then hot chocolate for dessert. All in all - pretty bad.



And those exercises out of Oprah magazine that I said I would do everyday? Didn’t get to them at all. The 30 minute brisk walk I said I’d do most days? Nope, too rainy then too cold. Truth is I came home from work, sat in front of the computer a bit, then sat in front of the TV even longer.

I failed miserably.

But a friend told me once: “Try. Fail. Try again. Fail better.” I’ve never forgotten that. It seemed like the secret to success. Still does.

So today I will endeavor to fail better.

Actually yesterday wasn’t a complete failure. I did manage to get almost four hours of writing done. That’s something. That’s a big something. I have to remember that just because I failed at one thing, or even two, it doesn’t mean I’m a failure or that I failed at everything or even that I’ll fail at them again tomorrow. Sometimes you gotta stick to the facts and not extrapolate.

I have my own saying about failure - “If you never fail, it’s because you’re not trying hard enough.” The only way to never fail is to never try anything new or difficult. Problem is, that’s also the only way to never succeed.