Dooley Noted: 7/28/2015
This weekend, I watched my amazing friend and colleague Dr. Jacob LoTurco make a second attempt at surfing.
He’s an incredible athlete, so he picked it up fairly quickly.
Courtesy of a GoPro, I was able to see his attempts with the requisite failures and successes.
Of course, the goal is to stay upright on the board and surf the wave.
But that was not the part that impressed me.
I was most impressed with the transitions to the board.
You have to time everything just right.
You must engineer the right amount of force and grace to even be able to get to half kneeling on the board.
To me, the beauty is not in standing up. The beauty is in the struggle – in the transitions.
We have such a hard time appreciating the struggle, because most of us can only see the end goal.
But if one learns to embrace the struggle, goal achievement is inevitable.
Many let the struggle frustrate them to the point of giving up.
Giving up is not failure. And failure is not the opposite of success.
Failure is missing the goal and continuing to try it anyway.
Failure is where personal growth and discovery occur.
Giving up is apathy.
And apathy is the opposite of success.
I am not afraid of failure, nor its transitions towards goal achievement.
I fear only apathy, when the goal is not even the goal anymore.
I hope you embrace the struggle, like Dr. Loturco.
I hope you do challenging things that cause you to fail.
I hope you lose your apathy.
I hope you fail like crazy – until you don’t.
And I certainly hope you achieve all your goals, knowing that the process is the result.
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley