If you google “failure” you’ll get a multitude of quotes that strive to make you less scared of failing. Like Paulo Coelho “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure” or Winston Churchill “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Lately I’ve been thinking about why we are so afraid of failing, and about why this is something that interest me right now. As you might have noticed I have been less active with my photography and I’ve been sharing less content overall. And sometimes the thought of failing this creative project of mine has no doubt crossed my mind.
Almost three years ago I was on a roll with my photography. Really in a good state of flow, and I got a few quite interesting and challenging client projects. Then my health declined, and with it my flow kind of stopped. Client projects became very few and long between, and I struggled to find my way through this new way of seeing the world through my camera from a more restricted angle. However I wouldn’t say that I felt like a failure or like my creative project was failing. Everything was just different.
I think we all fail daily. And after some contemplation I think it’s perfectly alright. I fail at working out the perfect amount, at being patient enough with people, at eating the right stuff for both my body and the earth. Undoubtedly I fail at being consistent with content creation. And even if that wasn’t a concern for me, if I had no intention of sharing my photography or videos, I constantly fail at prioritizing being creative. But I still don’t think I’m afraid of failure.
Courage or simply passion?
Churchill says it’s the courage to continue that counts. I’m not sure I agree. For it to be courageous to continue, you have to be afraid to fail in the first place right? Because courage demands fear. You can’t be courageous simply by continuing to do something that you’re not afraid of failing at. And all of the quotes on failure shares this very key prerequisite; that you shouldn’t be afraid of it.
Now you can say that fear is inevitable. I totally agree that fear of failure is a very human trait. I think most of us throughout our lives care about how other people see us and wether we are seen as successful in life or not. For me this undoubtedly was the main reason I didn’t start sharing my photography or made a YouTube channel until I turned 35. I was afraid that what I made wouldn’t be good, or good enough at least.
I had always heard that once you reach your forties, you stop caring about what other people think. Still my perception is that people in their forties are just as afraid of failure as everyone else. Just look at all the perfect birthday parties we arrange for kids that just want to make a mess with their friends. Or at how much we strive to show that we have success through sharing our exotic vacations. Even those of us who claim to not be a part of it all, that we’re not concerned about success, are very concerned about showing everyone how we succeed at not caring.
I’m not sure anyone continues with something because they are courageous. I think most of us do either because of fear of failure or because of passion for the things we do. Like with the kids birthday parties; we keep making them more and more grand either because we don’t want anyone to see us as “less than” or because we’re really passionate about baking, decorating and/or organizing parties.
There’s no failure in passion
And this is where I have found my reason for not fearing failure; in passion for what I do. I know that even if I fail at being consistent with photography, I will continue. Even if no-one watches my videos, I will continue making them. And even if I’m never able to reach my early goal of a solo exhibition, I’m not afraid of that failure. Failing doesn’t take away the passion for what I do.
I hope you all find your passion, and that you don’t stop doing what you love due to the fear of failure.
All the best,
Tonje
