"Failure is a great teacher, and, if you are open to it, every mistake has a lesson to offer."
-Oprah Winfrey

As much as we all want a life where everything goes exactly according to plan all the time, mistakes and failure are a normal and common part of life. Sometimes they will feel like an intimidating roadblock stopping us in our tracks. But, as challenging as making a mistake can be, each one has the amazing potential to become a valuable learning experience. You might know someone who appears to never get anything wrong or make a single mistake, and you wonder how they are able to do it. In reality, every person that you are inspired by has made many mistakes in their life because, after all, they are human just like you. In fact, those mistakes most likely contributed to the person they are today. 

Everyone experiences failure at some point or another, but that doesn’t mean that it has to set you back permanently and keep you from moving forward. Recognizing that failure can be an opportunity for growth actually gives your mistakes less strength over you and instead, as this week’s quote says, can teach instead of discourage you. It IS possible to make it through the tough challenges and even become better because of them. If you are able to look at failure as something to learn and grow from, you’re can use difficult experiences to actually create a blueprint for how to grow and succeed. By knowing what doesn’t work, you can move forward having learned from these experiences. 

This week, try looking at mistakes and failure as motivation to learn and improve. You might be surprised how much progress you can make from seeing challenges as new opportunities to grow!