Now hear this, “Just because your marriage failed does not make you a failure!”  Unfortunately, that is the way many divorced people see themselves. How we preceive ourselves affects; how we interact with others, our relationships, the messages we tell ourselves about ourself, our future, our career, our finances, our desires and our dreams. When we see ourself as a failure we limit our potential and possibilities in life.

When we fail we have choices to make. Will we perceive the “failure” as a life experience, learn from the experience and try again? Or will we perceive ourselves as a “failure” and give up? It is how we choose to perceive our failures and what we do about them that will determine our futures.

• “A failure is a man who has blundered but is not capable of cashing in on the experience.” Elbert Hubbard

• “Failure is instructive. The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes.” John Dewey

• “If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call “failure” is not the falling down, but the staying down.” Mary Pickford
• “We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.” Samuel Smiles
• “Failing does not make you a failure. A person is a failure only if he gives up and refuses to try any longer.” Joyce Meyer

How have you chosen to see the failure of your marriage? Have you learned from it and will you move forward? Or have you chosen to let it define you and remain stuck in the past?

If divorce has left you feeling like a failure, please read my recent ezine article Divorce Does Not Make You a Failure.

Copyright 2008  Shelley Grieser  All rights Reserved

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