“Don’t be afraid of failing, because there is nothing wrong with failing. You have to fail in order to climb the ladder. There is no one that doesn’t fail. […] We all fail. It’s ok.” These were Arnold Schwarzenegger’s words in a speech he gave in 2018. An opinion he has lived by and voiced repetitively throughout his impressive career, including in his autobiography Total Recall. When Arnold was giving his speech, he was talking about success and I believe each and everyone of us can learn something from a man who grew up in a humble home in a small post World War II village in Austria and came to be one of the most successful bodybuilders of all time, a giant Hollywood star and a successful politician. It is difficult to make it in either one of these professions, yet Arnold managed to be successful in all of them. 

The fear of failure applies to a lot of situations in our life and it is easy to fall into the trap and to let it hold you back from achieving your goals, or even initiating your first step towards them. Especially in these times of social media, where the lives of others are consistently portrayed by their successes or happy and fulfilling moments. What we forget and often don’t seem to think about is that anyone who is successful in life, in any shape or form, would have failed numerous times along the way. I have worked with many patients and athletes over the years and can tell you the ones who are successful in whatever they are trying to achieve are the ones who don’t fear failure as much, or even better, they embrace failure. 

See failure as part of the process and as a chance to learn without any paralysing guilt attached to it, which just throws you into the next dark cycle. The only failure is not to try. Everything else is just learning and a process of improvement. Embracing failure and avoiding the fear of failure can help us take the steps to our weight loss journey. It may help you to set this huge exercise goal that you always wanted to achieve, but never had the guts to even verbalise. It may get you out of a job or relationship that you hate and help you to start over and be happy again. 

Trust in yourself that when you do fail you will have the coping skills and strategies to deal with the situation should there be a need. In addition, ask yourself how likely is it that your fear will become true? Mark Twain once said, “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.” This summarises very well why your worries may be unnecessary. They are holding you back. Run, fall, get up, no guilt, learn and succeed.

Thomas Wendt