Today I was reading a blog post by Jon Acuff about failing and he basically says that when given the freedom to fail some of the most amazing creative ideas come out. It's kinda cool to think about it and think back at things I've done in life where I took the freedom to fail. Last week I exercised that freedom and put together chicken, cheddar, and chocolate for a tasty, alliterative slice of divine genius! When I worked on helicopters within that freedom I pushed the limits and learned to do things others were scared to try and became better at particular tasks than anybody I knew. When I was a child my dad gave me and my brother the freedom to fail, and like the lady referenced in Jon's blog, the order to fail when it came to fixing computers. Because of that, we learned to approach things with a different mindset. We learned to expect to fail, but to be able to figure out how to fix it anyway. I remember being in elementary school and having adult relatives call because they couldn't get their computer to work and I was able to talk them through it over the phone, which might not seem like that big of a deal now because most 3rd graders can too now, but that was back before CD ROM's and the internet. The point is, because I expected to fail occasionally, I became ok with it and learned to thrive in spite of it....baking, building decks, repairing helicopters, starting a business...it all becomes ok when you expect a little failure mixed in with it.
Go try something you're scared of. You might be surprised at the outcome!
Some of the cutest things I have made came out of a failure or just a plain old mess! In many areas of life, I tend to allow fear to stop me but in the ones I do not fear, I find a great deal of satisfaction! In allowing you and your brother and sister to try all sorts of things, my hope was that you would be willing to try new things and find those that you were good at or enjoyed doing. Our house may not have been spotless and we may not have had a lot of money but you always had something you could do, make or break.... too bad you never mastered glass repair! I am on Brittney's computer but of course, this is your mom! love you!
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