Fear of failure can keep many people from reaching their health and wellness goals. Most of us prefer it when all goes smoothly and according to plan. But what happens when life throws us a curveball, or we get stuck in a habit we can’t seem to break? Does this mean we have experienced a failure?

It all depends on how we look at it.

Is it failure if we learned something?

Is it failure if we are able to redirect our steps somewhere different?

Is it failure if a new opportunity arises?

Is it failure if we have to repeat a lesson (practice makes perfect)?

Is it failure if we can share our experiences with someone else?

Is it failure if it helped us more clearly define our goals?

I hope you get the idea by now. In my opinion, the only true failures are 1) never trying something in the first place and 2) giving up before giving something a solid chance. I would say that nearly everything else we consider failure can be flipped on end and turned into something positive, as long as we can keep a healthy perspective.