Fail Forward: One step after the fall

𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐋 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃: 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋

ℛ𝑒𝓊𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃

“𝘈𝘬𝘰 𝘯𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘢 𝘴𝘢 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘴,” sabi ni Engineer.
“𝘚𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘬𝘰 𝘯𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘢𝘴𝘢𝘬𝘺𝘢𝘯," suhestiyon ni Ma’am.
“𝘓𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘦 𝘬𝘰 𝘯𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘦,” sabi rin ng isa.

Nag-uunahan sila sa pagsagot sa mga gastusin para sa reunion. Sa group chat namin, parang piyesta ang saya at dami ng mga memoryang binalikan. Sampung taon na pala ang lumipas; dati, sabay kaming nangarap.

Noon, isa ako sa kanila, nangakong aabutin ang tuktok. Sabi nila, libre mangarap, kaya nilakihan ko rin—hinabol ko ang pangarap na maging bituin.
Ngunit ngayon… ako'y pakiramdan ko'y bigo.

“𝘉𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯, 𝘱𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢 𝘵𝘢𝘺𝘰 𝘩𝘢,” sabi ng bestfriend kong si Miss Engineer, na may sarili nang resort.
“𝘖𝘺 𝘉𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯, 𝘣𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘢𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘬 𝘮𝘰 𝘴𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘵? 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘥𝘢𝘮 𝘬𝘢 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘣𝘦𝘴!" sabi naman ng isa pa—si Teacher, na CEO na rin ng sariling kompanya.

“𝘈𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘰 𝘯𝘪𝘺𝘰 𝘯𝘢… 𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘢𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘢 𝘯𝘪𝘭𝘢.”
Makakahabol pa ba ako? Ako na nga ba’y bigo?
Minsan kasi sa buhay, may mga panahong pakiramdam mo’y ikaw lang ang naiwan ng kahapon. Habang ang iba ay mabilis ang pag-angat, ako nama’y dahan-dahang naglalakad.

Dumating ang araw ng reunion. Suot ko ay simpleng kulay abo na t-shirt at pantalon. Nakaharap sa salamin, ngumiti ako, at ibinulong sa sarili: “𝘖𝘬𝘪𝘦 𝘯𝘢 ‘𝘵𝘰. 𝘗𝘶𝘱𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢 𝘢𝘬𝘰.”Sapagkat sabi ng munting ako noon:
“𝘏𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘰; 𝘴𝘢𝘥𝘺𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘢, 𝘬𝘢𝘺𝘢 𝘵𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘰 𝘬𝘢 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘭 𝘴𝘢 𝘪𝘣𝘢"

“𝐒𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝.”

Kaya kung pakiramdam mo’y napag-iwanan ka na, tandaan mo ito:
You are not failing.
You are simply growing at your own pace.
Hindi ako bigo; nasa proseso lang ako ng paglago. May plano ang Diyos para sa mga taong hindi sumusuko. 💛

𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐋 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃: 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋

Don’t be too hard on yourself—every day is a chance to grow, to learn, and to become better than yesterday, so keep believing in your progress even when you feel like you’re not at your best.

𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐋 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃: 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋

" 𝓐 𝓯𝓪𝓲𝓵 𝓲𝓼 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓪 𝔀𝓮𝓪𝓴𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓼; 𝓽𝓸 𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓾𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓪 𝓶𝓾𝓼𝓽"

" 𝘈𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘺𝘢𝘳𝘪 𝘴𝘢'𝘺𝘰? 𝘋𝘢𝘵𝘪 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘰 𝘬𝘢 𝘢𝘩"
"'𝘠𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘬𝘢𝘺𝘢 𝘮𝘰?."
"𝘕𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘬𝘢"
"𝘔𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘬𝘢 𝘱𝘢 𝘣𝘢 𝘴𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘢 '𝘺𝘢𝘯?"
"𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵, 𝘣𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘬𝘢𝘸 𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪?"

Those words haunt me.
I’m scared—not because I failed, but because of the disappointment.

"𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵."
𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘐’𝘮 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦?

I was once the "Ace," yet now I feel like I've lost it. I can't fly or shine like before because the darkness surrounds me. I never knew silence could be this loud. The "what-ifs" and the questioning of my worth are deafening.

But my inner self talks so gently.
A soft voice whispers:

One failure is not everything.
You don't need the world to applaud you. Your value is worth more than their words.
It’s okay for them to be disappointed; just don't let yourself stay discouraged.

𝓘 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 , 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 , 𝓪𝓶𝓭 𝓖𝓸𝓭 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀𝓼 - 𝔀𝓮 𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓭𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 .

So, I wipe my tears, gently hug myself, and say:
"𝘽𝙖𝙗𝙖𝙬𝙞 𝙖𝙠𝙤 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙢 ..."