Fail

You are a high achiever, similar to those around

Stories of success and rags to riches abound

In your community and in your workplace

An environment where achievement is emphasized you face

You set success as the only standard to which you aspire

You inculcate in your children that success is required..

*

The bar gets raised higher and higher

When success is the outcome desired

Therefore when those high standards are not achieved

You are a failure is what you start to believe

This feeling pervades young minds even more

Who feel more pressured than before

To be “exceptional” and keep climbing the rungs of success

Whatever they end up achieving seems less…

*

All of us fail many times in many ways, yet we have internalized

The message that failure is not an option, have we realized

The enormous mental pressure that we endure

And place on our children as well, in trying to ensure

That we always succeed, because the alternative

Is something with which we are not supposed to live..

*

Life is not a constant climb uphill

There are peaks, but there are valleys to fill

Failure is not an option, but an integral part

Of life, “failure” gives a chance for a new start

If only we could learn to embrace both failure and success

We would make more progress with less stress..