Failure in Life Teaches You the Most Important Lessons

Did you ever get to experience failure in life?

Do you find it hard getting back in the race when life knocks the poo out of you?

After being knocked off my feet by nasty things of unpleasant circumstances and events, I had pretty much resolved to bury myself in the bottom of an ice cream box and stay that way indefinitely.

But not until I got what I needed while trying to cope with a huge failure.

Want to hone your skills in the realm of taking a Leadership role in Your own Life? Change your perspective on failure in life.

Between success and failure which teaches you the best lessons?

I don’t know about you, but I have this tendency sometimes. I would start an endeavor.

A goal if you will.

All of a sudden, there are these voices inside me telling me, “you’re not good enough, “you’re bound to fail”.

And because I would focus on this word failure, I would attract that in my life.

But how do we actually deal with failure? Is it something that you and I need to embrace?

Or something that’s supposed to give you grace?

Between success and failure which teaches you the best lessons?

I’ve gone through failures in my life before. And until today I’m still learning from them.

During the course of my life, these failures have taught me so many lessons more than what I learned from my successes.

How about you?

Do you love to hate yourself? Probably because of not being able to accomplish something? Or just because you keep on failing?

If you said yes to any of those questions? Don’t fret, because that was also how I used to live my life before. I would love to look down on myself. I would love to beat myself because of my mistakes. Because of my past failures. . I would beat myself over and over again.

But it was only when I learned to love myself more that I got to unleash my true potential.

And this picture says it all.

This was when I crossed the 70.3 Ironman finish line. Yes, I do triathlons.

Triathlon is an athletic contest consisting of three different events, swimming, cycling, and long-distance running.  Just in case you’re wondering what Ironman is, it is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation. 70.3 refers to the total distance in miles covered in the race. It consists of a 1.2-mile (1.9 km) swim, a 56-mile (90 km) bike ride, and a 13.1-mile (21.1 km) run.

As a matter of fact, when I posted it on social media, it has gained attention from so many of my friends.

It was an overwhelming feeling that people were celebrating with me as I made that milestone in my life.

I even have friends asking me how to start. Or telling me their intentions to become a triathlete as well.

But there’s something they didn’t know.

That, YES! I celebrated that success.

But the only reason I got to be successful in this field was because of so many failure in life!

The Moment that Changed Everything

Allow me to share this dramatic thing that happened that changed the course of my life

I could still vividly remember that one fateful night. I was alone at home in the province.

When suddenly, the world was like spinning around. I felt dizzy.

With only myself to cling onto, I leaned myself against the wall—holding myself for dear life.

I was a bit panicking.

The first thing that came to mind at that time was to look for my blood pressure.

You see, as a nurse, this is the first thing I would check my clients should they experience this symptom.

As soon as I got a hold of my blood pressure apparatus. I immediately wrapped the cuff around my arm. I checked the reading.

The next thing I found out rocked my world!

The blood pressure reading was this..

160/100. (Oh boy, did it make me more nervous)

I knew I had to be rushed to the nearest hospital.

Immediately, I called my cousin who was just our neighbour. He drove me to the nearest hospital.

I was nervous for my dear life. As somebody who is in the nursing field, having high blood pressure is something that needs special attention.

I was hoping for the best. But man, I couldn’t pacify myself. I couldn’t get myself to relax.

As soon as we reached the hospital, they took vital signs again.

And my blood pressure reading had me worried.

It was 170/100.

I could hardly hear the nurse tell me“Sir, you need to relax.”

Seriously? How do I feel relaxed given the situation.

How do I get to relax when in anytime now, something even worse could happen. (okay I’m exagerrating)
 I was sent home that night as soon as I got a drop in my blood pressure reading. That was also when they asked me to seek the opinion of a cardiologist–which I did the following day.

I was surprised to learn about the diagnosis.

I got diagnosed to having stage 1 hypertension, also known as prehypertension. And yes, at such a young age, I was already advised to take maintenance medications for my high blood pressure.

Now, you’re probably saying right now…

“March, what’s so unusual with that? I hear people having hypertension. That’s normal considering the times we have now.”

I hear you.

But not for me. Not when I was just starting my career. Oh, and did I mention that I was 23?

That was when my life flashed right before my eyes.

I used to be a smoker who smokes at least 2 packs per day. It was like a normal thing for me. Not to mention that drinking session is one of the things I would always look forward to doing every week.

A smoker would know that more cigarettes are being consumed during drinking spree.

It was at that time that I started to realize that what I did to my body was taking its toll on me.

One thing was clear to me at that time.

I wanted to change my life for the better.

It was as if my life flashed before my eyes.

“How about my dreams? My plans? How about my family?”

This was when everything made sense for me.

How I’ve used and abused my body was like a joke that’s slowly taking it’s toll on me.

How I Made a 360 Turn in My Life

It was then that it hit me. This is no longer a joke.

That was when I took my life seriously…

I wanted to live a normal life again…  So I started to make a 360-degree turn in my life.  The path was dark. I could hardly see people around. I was there all by myself.

With only my shadow to back me up, I would start putting that one tiny step. One step would lead to the next. And another. And another.

I could sense the sole of my feet crying through the weight it had to bear. My knees were a bit shaking as well.

Just after 20 steps, I could feel the beat of my heart start to go faster. But I had to do it anyway.

Man, it was hard. Running for 3 minutes was like an eternity.

Starting is always the hardest!

I never knew it could feel this worst.

That used to be my routine.

After the toxic days having to do my nurse duty in a hospital, what I would look forward to every time were my days off. Where I do my running routine.

I remember having to wake up to the sound of the alarm at 4:30 AM.

Put my rubber shoes on. I would head straight to the square park.

With only myself and the sparkling lights around me, I would start to run. All by myself.

I was that determined.

You see…

I never did like running before. Martial arts and basketball were my favorite sports back in high school and college.

But this time it was different.

I had this deep sense of motivation that comes from within.

3 minutes of running was like n eternity when I started this endeavour.

As I would do it regularly, slowly I would get my pace. Until my momentum picked up.

The used to be 1 round became 10 rounds. Until I was loving it. until I could make it to 30 rounds.

It was 2012 when I resigned from my work and went to be with my sister in Manila.

And that was when I was introduced to the running communities through the fun runs I would be part of.

I remember running my first fun run which was 16 kilometers.

Eventually, I conquered 21 kilometers and even made it to 42 kilometers. There was even a year when I ran 3 42 kilometers.   I thought to bring my game to the next level after that. That was when I got to be a part of a triathlon team, the Team Marquez (insert picture).

Again, starting was not an easy feat. I experienced a lot of failures trying to learn how to swim from scratch. But yes, because of my commitment and persistence, I made it.

And to cut the long story short, On August of 2017, I made it to the finish line of my first ever 70.3 Ironman.

Here’s a video I created on Youtube featuring how my failure in life teaches the most important lessons.

Just to put things into perspective, the story that I just shared with you is just but a tiny portion of my failure in life.

Right now, I’m still a work in progress and will always be a work in progress.

But I’m just glad I didn’t settle for less. I mean, I’ll never get to learn my true potential if not for my failure in life. That really paved the way for me to get out of my comfort zone.

Please know that the purpose of this post is not to downplay your successes.

But here’s the thing…