Failure…

I am not a basketball fan and know very little about Michael Jordan and his career.  Yet this is one of my favorite quotes of all time.

There seems to be something special about sports stars.  They are able to take setbacks and failures in stride and as motivators to be even greater. 

It’s a quality that I don’t feel that I possess and one that I am definitely envious of. 

But I am getting better about not defining everything in my life that I don’t do perfectly or don’t succeed at as a failure. 

I remember a particularly bad time in my life many years ago.  And I remember being DETERMINED that this was it.  I was going to take this time in my life, when things were complete SHIT to change my life.  I was going to lose weight and get fit and shove it in the face of the haters!!! 

That resolve lasted about 3 days.  And my life didn’t change.  I immediately reverted to old behaviors and got fatter and more out of shape.

But who is to say that what I learned in those 3 days didn’t contribute to the success I would have later in my life?

I tell my clients who have relapsed after a period of sobriety that they may have to change their “sober date”, but that whatever they learned – whatever skills they gained during their time clean and sober – 1 week, 1 month, 1 year – no one can take that away from them.

And while I struggle to not feel like a failure due to my regain, I need to remember this.

Any time that I am on the right track.  Any day that I exercise and eat right.  Any time that I make healthy decisions for myself mentally and physically – those are skills that can only benefit me in the future.

Today I ate well, and have a healthy dinner planned.  I biked 20 miles on the exercise bike and then ran another 10 on the treadmill.  Today was a good day.  Tomorrow I might eat like shit or make unhealthy decisions.  But today is mine.

And if we string together enough good days, that’s a good thing. And it will contribute to long term success.  From time to time, we just may have to tweak how we define success.  And as I’m been learning lately – being successful and being perfect?  They ain’t the same thing.