Dillon and I were looking out my bedroom window today at the beauty of the snow. The beauty of the sun glistening off the sparkling snow. The beauty of the snow drifts and how the snow covered all the gray, boring landscape. The beauty of the perfect coat of snow. However, yesterday driving to school and home from school, this is not how I thought about the snow. As I only drove 35-45 mph because of the road conditions and the wind. As I drove slow and the kids asked me how I could even see where I was going. I did not look at the snow at all as a beautiful thing.
Isn’t this how life is though? Life is going along. You are working towards a goal. Things seem okay and then the next thing you know you are struggling. You are failing. You are wondering if you can pick yourself back up one more time. Your bounce back ability has decreased. It is messy. You wonder is this really what my life is like. It is during this time you have to dig in. This is the time grit is needed. This is the time you remind yourself of the process and visualize the outcome. This is the time to remind yourself that it is messy in the middle. If you stick with it you will get through the storm. You will see the beauty of your hard work, your grit, your tenacity, your determination.
We expect to succeed, but do we expect to fail? We should. Now I am not saying to tell yourself that you are going to fail at a certain task or goal. But just remember that every successful person has experienced failure. Failure should be a life learning lesson. A lesson for you to gain knowledge and become better. Failure should be a stepping stone not a setback. Learn to look at failure as a way for you to gain personal growth. As a way for you to hide the gray dullness and sparkle then glisten, just like the snow this morning after the storm. Remind yourself it is messy in the middle but beauty shines through at the end.