Breaking The Failure Taboo

Source: Wikipedia

Failure is something that many of us if not all of us have been taught to be afraid of.

Unfortunately, failure is a big subject and perceptions about failure are not necessarily innocent.

No wonder so many people hide and are afraid to be themselves.

Why Failure Is Such A Big Subject

Failure has been a big subject throughout human history.

If you take a look at ancient myths and stories many of them are as much about failure as about bravery.

In early human societies, failure was dangerous. Even community games often required or resulted in human sacrifice. The Mesoamerican Ballgame of early Aztec societies was ne example, but there are many others.

Failure was particularly problematic for early humans, because they had very little knowledge about the actual causes and effects f events in their lives.

You could say that it was a guessing game but a serious one.

Failure was serious business because life was fragile.

The Seriousness Of Failure Stuck

There was certainly plenty to be afraid of in early human societies.

It seems that we often made the problem worse with superstitious rule making and worship of gods and ancestors. All of that ignorance led to some serious scapegoating. I would have been afraid too.

People who were different were definitely targets of superstition. Perhaps because the uncertainty of survival resources, like food and water as well as continual war made demands on each society extreme.

Nonetheless, we certainly went overboard.

The Fear Of Scapegoating

What constitutes success and failure have been and are still culturally prescribed. Your occupation, performance and family status are three ways in which we are often judged. We have also inherited our fears about not measuring up.

The serious need to ensure our survival as a species has come at a serious cost. We have so limited what we call acceptable behavior that we often to not realize how much we have cut ourselves off from our natural abilities and talents.

In addition, the serious treatment of and consequences for failure, real or not, right or not, has stuck in our mental programming. To this day, we humans do not handle failure well.

The fear of scapegoating is a serious inhibitor of our social, professional and creative behavior. In many cases we not be aware of it as an inherited fear. It is there under the surface and deep inside us if we look and reflect on it.

Failure And Creativity

Failure is such a big deal that human creativity has been controlled and thwarted for thousands of years in the attempt to create some stability and certainty in human societies. As justified as the desire for stability is, the univers – all parts of it – is essentially creative.

I am always amazed by animals who take the uncertainty of life in stride and find a way to enjoy the good they find. They do not fight life as we often do.

When we fight our natural creativity, we are fighting life and ourselves. At the end of the day, that cannot be rewarding or an enjoyable way to live life.

We all know of individuals or have ourselves experiences the blame that gets put on people for something they did not do or over which they had no control.We all know how wrong it is and how lousy it feels.

What Is Failure?

It is worth considering what failure is. If failure is the existence of uncertainty then we are all in deep trouble.

But that is not really what it is.

Much effort has been made in the past 50 years to recognize the degree to which our lives are dominated by the stories we tell ourselves and others about life. By embracing the colorful but potentially dangerous aspect of ourselves we can open ourselves up to our creativity and take responsibility for it.

Creativity is not irresponsibility.  It may actually be irresponsible not to embrace our full creativity.

I am all for some comfort in life. However, we need to realize that security is a story we tell ourselves just like any other. When we rigidly put safety first we not only deny reality which never works, but also sacrifice quality of life and joy for stability.

Is that really the trade-off we want to be making?

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About the Author

Maria Hill is the webmaster for HSP Health and HSP Health Blog. She is a long time meditator, reiki master, student of alternative health and Ayurveda. Maria is an abstract painter at Infinite Shape and also very interested in animal and human rights and the environment. Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or the HSP Health Google+ page.