Why can hitting rock bottom reduce the fear of failure?
In My highs and my lows, Innocent looks back on a period that other people regarded as a low point. He remembers discovering possibilities and making decisions that changed his life. What looked like an ending from outside felt to him like a chance to begin again.
His account includes a striking claim about losing the fear of failure. He connects it with seeing possibilities that success and comfort had kept out of view. One way to understand that change is to consider what a person no longer feels compelled to protect after a loss.
A Spark from Vicissitudes of Life
When you've hit rock bottom, the fear of failure dies a permanent death in your life.
Consider someone whose small enterprise has closed. Before the closure, even considering a different kind of work felt like admitting that the enterprise might not succeed. They had told people what they were building. Becoming a beginner elsewhere seemed to threaten both that plan and the account they had given of themselves.
Afterwards, being seen as a beginner may carry a different cost. The closure is already known. Asking about unfamiliar work does not have to be the thing that exposes it. There may be grief, embarrassment and practical difficulty, but the person no longer needs every new choice to demonstrate that the old plan is working.
That is a particular fear becoming less restrictive. It is not the disappearance of everything there is to fear. The person may have less money available and more reason to be careful. Another venture could carry consequences they cannot afford. Losing one position does not mean having nothing valuable left to lose.
Experience can also change the imagined meaning of failure. Beforehand, “I could fail” may have stood for an end beyond which no life could be pictured. Afterwards, there are actual days to live: difficult arrangements, people who respond in different ways, abilities that may still be useful. None cancels what happened. Together they can make an afterwards imaginable.
For someone else, the same kind of loss may make fear stronger. What was once hypothetical is now painfully familiar. There is no correct amount of courage to extract from a collapse, and no need to reach one before seeking change or help. Immediate needs such as safety, somewhere to stay and support deserve attention regardless of whether a new direction is visible.
Innocent’s redefinition of a low point rests on the self-knowledge and willingness he found there. You need not adopt his verdict on your own losses to understand the possibility he describes. What others see as lost standing may coexist with a choice you can finally consider honestly.
The useful question is not whether the failure was secretly good. It is whether some part of what once made another attempt frightening has changed. You may still need caution, support and time. You may also have one less reason to spend them defending a position that is no longer yours.
Related lessons
AI-generated from Innocent Mwatsikesimbe's writing.
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