the fierceness in failure

My collection of shortcomings only illuminates my collection of talents and failures. Failures are beautiful. These mistakes which we lay our heads down on at night develop our dreams. That time I ate expired cheddar, or the time I drove without snow tires in a blizzard. These are the mistakes we learn from. And then there are the mistakes that we grow from. The time I called her a bitch, and then the time I apologized. Or the time I spent ignoring the people that mean the most me. Mistakes age you, weather your soul, and make you brighter. Failure is beautiful. I like to wake up with the fear of failure, because most days that is enough. Mistakes teach us to be soft. Failure teaches us to be fierce.

So be fierce. Not the kind of fierceness that can shake a room. The quiet kind of fierce, the kind that can shake the world.

The kind of fierceness that wasn't meant to put fear in the eyes of others. A soft kind of fierce, the kind only a driven heart can produce. In your veins, mean well. In your actions, be gentle. Your words, subtle. But let your heart and the blood pumping through it be red. Fiery, fiercely, red.