Imagination

Dear Millennial,

Failure is a Figment of Our Imagination.

We all are learning as we grow. Growth helps us discover who we are, and who we are meant to be. This thought is such a praise worthy statement!

Why?

We’re all experiencing awakening, that’s why!

I decided I’d FINALLY invest in myself a few months ago. I’ve invested in myself in the past, but the investments have been considerably small in my opinion. For example, I’ve….

• Reallocated my time to prioritize self-care

• Spent a little money on things like my logo, website, and subscriptions for various development channels

• Networked to build my contacts

• Read to challenge my thoughts & expand my mind

• Prayed for peace, joy, patience, and positivity for myself and those around me

I found myself with so many ideas floating around in my head daily, but I had trouble unloading those ideas and turning them into a reality. I decided it was time to “think bigger”. The big investment I decided on was to hire someone to help me move my ideas forward in hopes of changing my reality, so that’s what I did. Initial discussions with a vendor I’d settled on seemed as though our partnership would be a good match, with the exception of the cost for services!

I had to remind myself that help sometimes comes with a price tag, as I’d be working with an established consultant one-on-one. The cost forced me to seriously consider whether I was ready to truly commit, and take myself as seriously as I wanted others to take me & my ideas. Frightened was an understatement. It was in that moment that I had to decide if I believed in me, and if so, question what would I be willing to sacrifice. I decided to spend the money, thinking how would I make money if I wasn’t willing to spend any. Don’t get me wrong, I’d spent this amount of money several times in the past, but never on an idea …essentially a dream.

I signed the service agreement, and we got started! The more my ideas took shape as I’d hoped they would, the more I felt understood…and that made me excited. However, my excitement was short-lived. Email exchanges with actionable items between the consultant and I slowed down, promises were broken, and communication had become inconsistent… and when there was communication, excuses came in faster than the speed of light. Attitudes (from both sides) were on 10!

I literally went from feeling scared, to excited, to disappointed in a matter of weeks. What had I done?!

I wasn’t disappointed in the company I’d hired; I was disappointed in myself. I instantly felt like I’d failed, misjudged the consultant based on the dream they sold me and/or the dream I wanted to believe in. More importantly, I’d wasted a lot of money. I felt like my inability to select the appropriate person to partner with was a setback to the goals I had in mind. As I began to get upset about the situation, I decided to take a deep breath and remind myself to hold on to what I believed, which was the fact that everything happens for a reason. This person and I crossed paths purposefully, though we may not have been a good fit for a business relationship. The experience wasn’t a wasted one; I knew it was up to me to find the blessing in what had happened. Every misstep gets us closer to accomplishing our goals. God wastes nothing!

Being that failure is only a figment of my imagination, I decided to label what had happened as a positive experience. I wouldn’t say the positive was the consultant I hired, but instead the fact that I had been given an opportunity to learn/grow from an experience I’d normally consider a “failure”. I could’ve walked away from the situation hesitant to invest in myself in the future, as that would have been a natural reaction. I could’ve focused on the tasks that the consultant didn’t execute correctly. Instead, I decided to use the small nuggets I did receive from that situation to propel me to think differently about my ideas & fine tune them where needed. I could’ve been an irate customer, but I decided karma would take care of the other party because I was genuinely trying to do the right thing (take the steps that I felt had been ordered for me to walk into my purpose).

At the end of the day, we don’t fail unless we decide to give into defeat and accept things as they seem. But why do that? Instead, take what life and people throw at you in stride; it’s all working together for your good, and mine too.

Failure isn’t real, learning is!

-Millennial Jas