Failure. Failure is one of the greatest fears of our society. We as human beings have this innate need to succeed and any thing that happens that remotely resembles failure is unacceptable. If you fail at something you are worthless. You are a bad person. You might as well just give up because you aren’t good enough. And sometimes we sit back and watch the people we all think are succeeding and wonder what we ever did to deserve this failure. What if…what if we thought of failure as a gift. What if we accepted the fact that failing at something isn’t really failure. What if we thought of failure as when you don’t get up and try again after you fall down. In this day and age there is so much pressure everywhere and from everyone. There is pressure coming from your parents, school, college, and pressure from your friends, teammates, and coaches. But the pressure that is the strongest is the pressure you put on yourself.  These pressures are all telling you that you need to succeed and you need to be the best. And you can’t control that pressure that the other people put on you, but you can control how you deal with it. We all strive for “sweet success.” But how would we know how  “sweet” success is if we have never been deprived from it. Failure is what makes success “sweet.” If you fail at something be upset about it, cry about it even, but then wipe the tears from your face and harness that fire in the pit of your stomach and use it to fuel you to try again. The American author Orison Swett Marden once wrote, “Don’t wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great.”  Life is hard. And Life hurts people, a lot. But do not let Life discourage you from being successful. Instead, accept what Life is throwing at you grasp it whole-heartedly. Embrace Life. Embrace Success. Embrace Failure. And remember failure is a gift.