“Falling down is not a failure. Failure comes when you stay where you have fallen.” – Socrates

I cannot help but like Socrates, who is quoted as saying that poets are the interpreters of the gods. We are not, and that would be very vain to think so. Still, the humor in that compliment makes me smile as I attempt to be a poet worthy of that simple aspiration.

Life is hard, and we will fall from time to time. This is no significant error; it may be considered a failure only when we stay where we have fallen. Setbacks, obstacles, and rethinking are simply part of life’s journey. How we react and respond to these encounters determines our successes.

Staying down is nearly always the erroneous choice. There can be no giving up, surrendering, and refusing to learn from mistakes made. Instead, we need to dust ourselves off and make further attempts. Resilience, perseverance, thinking, growing, and learning are suitable approaches to overcoming perceived failures. A classic example of this in the business world is the number of attempts Thomas Edison’s company made to achieve a workable lamp filament. Use your stepping stones wisely and grow. This growth mindset allows us to view every challenge as an opportunity, not a failure.