Sorry, I failed

"Oh, you lost"

So many people might have told you this before, 

Maybe you resonate with this, 

And I'm so sure that you have gone home thinking, 

I'm sorry, I failed.

Here are some unanswered doubts,

We often forget to remind ourselves, 

We should often trigger our minds to think about,

Something we must realise,

Before trying something new,

Why do we do a particular task?

Pause. Breathe. Think. 

What according to you,

Is the ideal definition of success or failure? 

Who according to you,

Is deciding for you, 

The definition of a success or failure? 

Who is setting these unrealistic standards of success and failure for you? 

Pause. Breathe. Think.

Don't we celebrate successes? 

Don't we enjoy when we "pass" 

Aren't we overjoyed when we do well? 

Unfortunately, we are conditioned to this success,

Pause. Breathe. Think. 

How should we embrace? 

Sorry, I failed.

Failure is and will always be,

A stepping stone for success,

No, we aren't taught,

"How to deal with failure"

There is no set manual for the same,

Adapting, accepting and understanding,

That, it's okay if you failed, 

And that, everyday is a opportunity to grow from the,

Sorry, I failed. 

Embrace, celebrate and learn from failure, 

Pause. Breathe. Think.

And, think again about how,

Sorry, I failed is okay. 

Try to understand why trying again is okay.

Well, Sorry I failed and I'm proud of it.

-Ushma Shah