Failing absolutely is an option. The OCDoers way of thinking makes it imperative to never fail. Any negative voice be it stress, anxiety, fear, whatever it might be will yell that failing is a no-no. To never fail is to never learn. To never learn is to never grow. Who wants to limit their growth? Absolutely no one. Yet we fear failure, understandably.
It’s hard, it’s tough to swallow, it hurts, it eats at us, it sets us back. Good! Fail with purpose, not irrationally. Yeah… I’m talking to you OCD. Your way sucks. I’ve most certainly failed at the hands of Obsession Compulsive Disorder. It wasn’t until my lowest points dealing with it did I decide I could learn from this. I could overcome this, and I could WIN! Winning the OCD game can really do something for a person. I’m seeing that now.
Thank you OCD. Thank you for your challenges in which I’ve failed miserably. For if it wasn’t for those failures, where would I be right now in my recovery?
Failing Absolutely Is An Option:
They say that “when someone tells you it can’t be done, it’s more a reflection of their limitations, not yours”. For that, their advise might be skewed. That’s when you get the cookie cutter advise. That’s the kind of limitations OCD puts on you too, and does it with persuasion. I tried it your way, but I was not happy. In fact, I eventually became miserable. Miserable that I was not chasing my own dreams. I’m chasing it now, by learning on the go and putting it into play.
When it comes to OCD and chasing the best me, I choose the unconventional advise over the cookie cutter advise and put my own spin on it. I just feel like I have a better chance failing at it my way, than forcing myself to do it someone else’s way! I’ve failed at that too, now let me do me.
I continuously fail at it my way too, yet, I feel closer to my goals than ever. That’s saying something. So yeah, failing absolutely is an option.
I Gotta Fail My Own Way:
Who are you to rob me of my failures? My OCD wants me to play it so timid… UGH OCD! Doing it your way stops me right in my tracks. I’ve feared to fail and feared to succeed. Huh… what kind of backwards shit is that? Isn’t this speaking to someone else too? Fear of both failure and success? That is the most ‘Meh’ type of thinking out there. That’s where most of us are though.
There are questions in both success and failure. Sure, it’s easy to imagine what we’d do with success, but the facts are we fear our own capability of putting in the work for that success. Just as much as putting all that work in, only to fail. Fortune favors the bold. So many of us hold our bold back.
It’s bold to succeed, and bold to fail. Own both and push for both, they don’t exist if it weren’t for the other.
Pushing Failure To The Limits:
Take my OCD for example. Before I even noticed, before I could make a decision, it held power over me. It grew stronger and stronger. Not until it put my back against the wall did I even decide to fight it. It kept on pushing me, but subtly. OCD threw blows and I took most of them. But when it pushed so much, a force within me screamed out ENOUGH! Recovery became an option, winning became an option, and as a result – success became an option.
If it weren’t for my OCD getting greedy and pushing me to a limit I thought I couldn’t bounce back from, I’d have never sought out recovery as an option. I could still very well be at that point where I just considered myself a worrier. That’s only a half ass fail where I accept these obsessions and compulsions as a minor disorder.
That thinking would’ve kept me at a meh level. Meh, who cares that I worry about everything, no harm no foul. The harm and the foul are the limitations that it brings. Without failure at the limit to which OCD has pushed, I would’ve learned nothing of this experience.
Failing absolutely is an option – rather it’s a must.
Failing Is A Must:
Come on OCD, I’m waiting for you to tell me that statement is wrong. Nothing huh? This is not your moment. You don’t cower at this challenge I present to you. You’ll wait til we’re in isolation, or weak, and you’ll sneak in.
Yeah, you’ll sneak in with your confusing logic and maybe I’ll bite, or maybe I won’t. I’m alright with either as long as one of two things come from it. If I bite, I learn from the failure. If I don’t bite, I realize that it is because of previous failures that I now can resist.
That’s what recovery is – a series of attempts to get better. It’s full of failures and it’s full of triumphant moments.
Failing Absolutely Is An Option:
I repeat, failing absolutely is an option. Don’t let anyone else tell you it isn’t, especially yourself. You’ve learned from previously failures and so has the messenger. Even if the messenger is your OCD. You think OCD wins 100 percent of the time? Absolutely not, or we’d be welcoming it’s input. It wins when it gets us to bite, and faces failures when we don’t.
If recovery is an option, so must some failure. If failure is not an option, then fear and anxiety will continue to sink it’s claws. Failing is a perk when we learn from it.
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Let me know if you found this helpful. I am curious to hear your spin. Leave a comment or find me on Twitter @UghOCD or Instagram @brentleybigkid.
