I'd love to add a quote from Camus. "Become so very free that your whole existence is an act of rebellion." Once you free yourself from the grief and guilt of your failures, you can see how beautiful they can be. Being imperfect is the most human we can hope to achieve. We failed an exam? Yes. And we conquered trying.
Camus is freakin quotable, and I love this one so much. It's making me think of a Toni Morrison quote also: "If you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else."
Definitely on team Simone de Beauvoir | Fail as a Form of Resistance
"Yes, you're right. I am not doing that any more. And, that's because I no longer live in an era where proving myself to the machine is my preferred form of validation."
I absolutely love this. I love all the different philosophical ways from Camus to "Substance" to think about the necessary existence in our life of failure. It's so talked about. But how do you digest it? Victory always gets the praise, but failure, how to celebrate it as well. It's sort of the underdog of the family.
I think one way to celebrate failure is to not give up on the thing you're failing at IF it's something you truly believe in desiring and wanting....(and if it doesn't outright hurt anyone ofc). Struggling against all odds is just living and living in and of itself ought to be an act of celebration. We wake up every day, we live through the day, there is wonder & joy there. None of us are above the wheel of time and the sun and trees and the birds...and all of it, it just keeps fucking going in. 💙
"let’s embrace the misunderstandings, the half-finished drafts, the things that didn’t land. Those aren’t flaws. They’re openings…little portals to another time-space continuum where it can all start again and maybe even end, just to resume." YES, YES, YES.
I will keep reading this. Also see Rachel Zucker’s great essay on the poetics of failure in APR a few years back. (At this point it could be a decade?) But this is much more inclusive than that. I think I need to open a file now. Thank you!
Thank you David! I love what you said about listening more than plotting—that’s the hardest part, isn’t it? To stop trying to project-manage the soul. And I relate so deeply to the backwards math of failure leading to something oddly better, or at least more true, than whatever I had planned.
I'd love to add a quote from Camus. "Become so very free that your whole existence is an act of rebellion." Once you free yourself from the grief and guilt of your failures, you can see how beautiful they can be. Being imperfect is the most human we can hope to achieve. We failed an exam? Yes. And we conquered trying.
Camus is freakin quotable, and I love this one so much. It's making me think of a Toni Morrison quote also: "If you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else."
Thank you, Shannan--inspiration for these exasperating times. I needed this right now.
Thank YOU Tara, always 💙
Definitely on team Simone de Beauvoir | Fail as a Form of Resistance
"Yes, you're right. I am not doing that any more. And, that's because I no longer live in an era where proving myself to the machine is my preferred form of validation."
Great post. Loved it.
Thank you Robin! And yes, being on Simone's team is not often easy to execute but always very eventful haha
Here's something I failed at:
WORKING THE CRISIS HOTLINE
Down by the river
in cramped quarters,
telephones ring non-stop.
Young people, women
mostly, quickly pick up.
Voices cry out: Help me!
I’m too high; Someone
followed me; And…
then he raped me.
This new recruit,
sensitive as bruised skin,
calmly tries on comfort:
Stay cool. Talk to me.
Breathe, just breathe, she says.
All night long, she cares and
consoles, her heart
racing, as perspiration
blurs worn referral cards.
During a brief respite,
she glances out a dark window,
watches the roiling water,
imagines her body
floating downstream.
At shift’s end she exits, running...running.
The best thing about failure is knowing that at least you tried.
yes!!
I absolutely love this. I love all the different philosophical ways from Camus to "Substance" to think about the necessary existence in our life of failure. It's so talked about. But how do you digest it? Victory always gets the praise, but failure, how to celebrate it as well. It's sort of the underdog of the family.
I think one way to celebrate failure is to not give up on the thing you're failing at IF it's something you truly believe in desiring and wanting....(and if it doesn't outright hurt anyone ofc). Struggling against all odds is just living and living in and of itself ought to be an act of celebration. We wake up every day, we live through the day, there is wonder & joy there. None of us are above the wheel of time and the sun and trees and the birds...and all of it, it just keeps fucking going in. 💙
That makes me smile...and laugh...and celebrate!
"let’s embrace the misunderstandings, the half-finished drafts, the things that didn’t land. Those aren’t flaws. They’re openings…little portals to another time-space continuum where it can all start again and maybe even end, just to resume." YES, YES, YES.
I will keep reading this. Also see Rachel Zucker’s great essay on the poetics of failure in APR a few years back. (At this point it could be a decade?) But this is much more inclusive than that. I think I need to open a file now. Thank you!
Thank you David! I love what you said about listening more than plotting—that’s the hardest part, isn’t it? To stop trying to project-manage the soul. And I relate so deeply to the backwards math of failure leading to something oddly better, or at least more true, than whatever I had planned.
Thank YOU for reading, Spicy Pickles (what a cool name haha)