If we fail, we fall. If we succeed – then we will face the next task. – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
Failure and success are interesting animals. Both are fundamental aspects of our human experience. Both our feared by some. Both always present new opportunities.
If you fail at something, all right, you tried something and it didn’t work. It happens. It happens a lot, actually, especially to those who ultimately find success.
Failure, at first, is a difficult prospect to face, especially if you’ve never failed at anything before. However, after you get a couple of failures under your belt you realize that all failure is a receipt issued by fate showing you tried to improve yourself. Failure is never an end, unless you quit, which is the only real failure.
If we succeed – then we will face the next task…
Success, though is not an end either. You accomplish one thing, odds are the prospect of something greater – an opportunity to better what you’ve already become – will present itself in fairly short order. We cannot rest on our laurels because there will always be someplace new our time and talents will want to take us. As one cycle of our life ends another begins.
The key to a good life is to be open to these cycles, to be open to what nature and circumstance put in front of us. It is something every one of us can do every day, and success is waiting for those who do.
