Chin Up Charlie

Changing the way you see failure

Ever had one of those days where the entire world seems to be against you? What do you do to get through them? Or do you give in and let the world have its way?

Over the weekend I was out with my camera taking landscape photos. Since the lockdown happened I have been thinking of ways I can build upon my skills to supplement my income in case I lose my job. I have been taking photos for a long time and thought maybe I am at a point where I can turn it into a side hustle selling prints and writing blogs.

I had woken up early with enthusiasm to head out and take sunrise photos at a local beach. I had a vision in mind of what I was going to photograph. Walking out my front door I looked up to the pre-dawn sky and could see that it was partially clear with some decent cloud cover. The perfect conditions for a stellar sunrise.

I arrived at my location about an hour before the sun would rise, plenty of time to find something to photograph. However, no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find the photograph that matched what I had envisioned. The hour went by pretty quick and I was still running around like a headless chicken looking for something that appealed to me. The sunrise was a dud, no photos to be taken. At least I could try again later on that day.

That afternoon my wife and I headed out to the peninsula near the city we live in to explore all the magnificent bays. The scenery was stunning, and I carried my camera everywhere, but no matter how stunning it was I still couldn’t find anything I wanted to photograph. There was always something wrong with the scene:

Too much shadow.

Too much haze.

Too many people.

Not enough cliffs.

The waves were too small.

And so on and so on…

Throughout the day I would check out photos on Instagram for inspiration from my favorite photographers. There were so many stunning images on there, and looking at them started to push me further into my slump. There were so many people out there taking stunning photographs. Who was I to think I could have any impact on the industry.

It got to a point where I was getting too caught up in my negative thoughts so I threw in the towel and said to my wife perhaps I should stick to my day job. I felt defeated; but why? Lately, I had been taking some stunning photographs that I was really proud of. Just because I had a couple of days where I didn’t get the results I wanted, didn’t mean I was a failure and that I should give up the hobby I love.

Many people give up too easily. Looking back over my life I know I am one of them. We try something new and get reasonably good at it. The initial learning is quite often easy and enjoyable but when it gets to the challenging parts many times we are put off. We start to let it slide and eventually give up.

But finding a way through the challenging times is what makes someone great at something rather than just ok. I had to remind myself that it’s not always going to be smooth sailing. There are going to be challenging days that you need to work through.

All the cliches were going through my head.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

If it was easy everybody would be doing it.

Get back on the horse etc etc

All the things you hear so often but never really take much notice.

We are never really taught how to deal with failure. We learn to celebrate success but when it comes to a failure we are never really taught what to do. It’s something we have to face more often than we would like. And if we don’t find ways to defeat it, it will defeat us.

But what if we didn’t think of our failures as failures. At least we got out and gave it a go. Perhaps we learnt something new along the way. Look for something positive in the situation and you will find that even though you didn’t get the results you were after there is still a lot of positives that you can take away from the situation.

By changing the way you think of failure, you will start to see every moment as a success rather than a defeat. I know not getting a photograph I was happy with is a very small failure compared to some things people deem a catastrophic failure. However, it’s not the size of the failure, no matter how big it is, there is always going to be something positive you can take away from the situation that will help you grow. It’s not the failure itself that defeats us but the way we handle that failure.

Just because you had a failure, does not mean you are a failure — Tamara Levitt

Pick your chin up, be compassionate and forgiving to yourself and celebrate the effort that you put in rather than just the outcome.