failure

Let's talk about FAILURE. 

Yep. 

It's the elephant in the room, so to speak. It is high time to just get that elephant moving on out of here.
Did you know that failure is part of success.

Now that you are really paying attention, consider what Winston Churchill said about our elephant named Failure...

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. 

Sounds crazy, but I know it holds true in my life. I went yo-yoing my way through life always husky; a little less husky; then college added 75 pounds; kept gaining; lost almost 100; had kids and gained back.

Lots of failures in there. 

What worked in my 20's failed in my 30's, and what kinda worked in my 30's was not working as the 40's began.

Until now. 

What changed? My mind.
I whispered a prayer in April of 2013 and God heard it. He used some interesting characters to motivate me that summer to stop eating sweets, and, all of a sudden, I discovered I could say no to something full of stuff not good for me. 

God didn't leave me alone there. 

He gave me an amazingly awesome coach who offered a free group challenge to me. I discovered I was stronger than I ever thought possible. I could do crazy hard things like 100 push ups a day for 30 days...and squats. Let's not forget the squats.
Some of those 30 days most push ups were done on my knees. 

Others most were not.

But, I did them all. 

My definition of failure was changed. 

Not doing push ups is so worse than doing them on your knees. I was not failing at push ups because I did them on my knees, I was succeeding because I did them. Period.
Let me close with Tony Horton's view of failure from his book, The Big Picture...

There's nothing wrong with failing. In fact, failure needs a new name. "Failure" should be renamed "awesome." Everyone loves awesome...The problem with the word "failure" is that it connotes that you're a loser - and losers don't succeed or win or get the girl...As a result, many people would rather play it safe, not take chances, not explore, and never, ever stick their neck out and actually try...If you're afraid to fail, then you'll never expose yourself to opportunities for success.

We must try and fail until we see success happen. 

Transform your thinking and your body will follow. 

Be blessed.

***I hold a challenge group on facebook almost every month. I wrote this on day one and posted it in our group. Needless to say, I was surprised at the response to it. Most likely we all have struggled with feeling like a failure or fearing that we will fail when beginning something new.

I am currently struggling with the fear of failing on a different part of my journey. No matter the topic, the fear of failing at anything can become debilitating...an end before a beginning ever has a chance.  

I share this because I needed to be reminded of my own words.***