On Failure 01

There’s much to be said about failure, this stack of rejected internship and staff photo jobs speak volumes. Why squirrel away these official letters from photo editors long forgotten, retired, unceremoniously laid off or moved on, dated 2002 - 2006?

Figured a long time ago it would be a good reminder at multiple points in my career. So I saved them, not to dwell but as a visual reminder of past stepping stones, rather building blocks.

Of all the beers, tears and ink spilled between the cracks of shifting goals and moving forward, at some point I stumbled on this Johnny Cash quote that sums up his strategy for handling future failures. If it’s good enough for the man in black it’s good enough for you.

“You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.” - Johnny Cash