Fail Gloriously

I watched the Susan Boyle You Tube again today, and was just as moved as I was the first time I watched it. It also put me in mind of this quote from Lois McMaster Bujold, a paraphrasing from something one of her characters says in one of the Chalion novels.

God is not interested in perfect souls, but glorious ones.


This resonates with me in a big way, reinforced by the nearly unanimous reaction to Susan’s performance. Each of us is created to be able to do big things. Many of us are removed from the running, by circumstance, accidents, or the grim reality of unhappy lives, but for those of us who are left, for those of us who still have that possibility within us, we owe it to everyone who’s lost their chance to at least try.

Not for the prestige or for a five minute You Tube clip, but for the sheer experience of fully flexing our muscles, for dreaming and reaching big, at least once, to have faith in ourselves and our dreams.

The thing is, to have attempted something great, even if it fails, changes our internal landscapes in a way that nothing else can, so that even if we fail, we gain. Not only that, but by merely attempting, we give others the courage to try.

One of the reasons this is rolling around in my head these days is that I have this sneaking suspicion that I am going to have a Major Fail on this project I’m working on. If it doesn’t work, it will be the SPLAT! heard around the world (or at least throughout the halls of my publisher.)

But there are also some really big things I want to say about love and death and duty and honor, so big, I can’t even articulate them, except through this story. The chances I will fail are good, but there is a chance--a tiny chance--that I might not. That I will in fact, be able to say what I feel driven to say. I’ll never know if I don’t try. Epic fail, possibly, but it will be a glorious failing, not a small one.

Give yourself the gift of a few minutes this weekend and allow yourself to dream BIG, not about the affect (winning an award, reaching a list) but what you would attempt to accomplish…