Welcome, dear Reader.
This is my first ever blog post. You will find a bit more information in the ‘about’ and ‘Bree’ (that’s me) sections.
It is a vulnerable place to put oneself in, the blogosphere! I hope I find it to be a kind and forgiving place, and I sincerely hope you will join me on this journey.
This first post is dedicated to The Belles. Thank you for being my inspiration, and for inadvertently giving my blog a name! (And I would also like to thank whoever it was who initially voiced the term ‘failing joyfully’ – I’m sorry I cannot remember who it was).
Bree. x
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Earlier this year I joined a choir – a wonderful group of diverse and thoroughly interesting women. We have come from many different backgrounds, musically; some of us can read the notes straight from the page, some of us only have to hear them a few times before getting the hang of it. Most of us flounder around for a good while, hitting anything but the right notes for a good amount of time, until…
After weeks or months of practice the melody emerges. We know (with a modest degree of certainty, at least) which notes to strive for, and we are pretty good at hitting them. If one or another of us doesn’t, it’s usually not that big of a deal. The strong in that moment carry the weak, and we can have a chuckle about it later.
It was through singing that I stumbled across this concept of ‘failing joyfully’.
To learn a song, we must actually let the sound escape our lips! We need to hit the wrong notes loudly, and often, so we have some kind of a reference for the right ones. When you’re learning, it is okay to make mistakes. It is expected. It should be encouraged.
Why?
If we don’t sing out, make mistakes and hit the wrong notes sometimes, it takes much longer to learn the right ones.
At first it was hard – letting those around me hear the discord I was creating. But before too long I realised…
we are in this together, you and I.
And I am no longer going to be afraid to fail.
And when I do fail, I will smile (eventually).
I will let those around me hit the wrong notes, too, because failing joyfully gives those around us permission to do the same, to live life with authenticity and unpretentiousness. To be real in our failings and mistakes. To be a whole-grain, husk and all. (We all know whole-grains are healthier, right?)
“Life is a song – Sing it” – Sai Baba
I am still learning to fail joyfully; I am still learning to grow comfortable with imperfection. I am still learning to confidently make mistakes so that those around me may experience the freedom to do the same. I am still learning to sing.
I would love for you to join me, to sing boldly the notes of life. To commit to the notes you know, and sing them loud and clear.
And together we will find the melody.
Bree.
(Disclaimer: I must have agonised over this post at least a dozen times. Many drafts later is what you have read above, so – full disclosure from a slowly recovering perfectionist!)
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What does ‘failing joyfully’ mean for you? I would love to hear your thoughts.
(Folks, the ‘comment’ button is very difficult to see. It is a small ‘+’ symbol in a little bubble to the bottom right of this post, please do leave a comment with your thoughts, if you can find the button!)[whohit]sing[/whohit]
