Written by Ivy Knight

It happened. I know it sounds ridiculous to some but I’ve never failed a squat on the platform. In fact, I’ve actually been terrified about it. What if I drop it? What if they don’t catch me? What if they get hurt? What if I get hurt? What if everyone laughs? What if I die?? What if.....

Well, it happened. After it, I thought that if I just fought a little harder I could’ve gotten it and maybe that’s true but there’s this small part of me that soo happy it happened.

I no longer fear failure. I also now trust the spotters immensely. If I may, I’d like to parable my experience with life. Failure teaches us lessons. It’s 100% necessary to fail in order to learn. In this scenario, I never failed a squat before because I never pushed myself hard enough to fail. I didn’t know what that looked like for me. I’ve grinded out squats in the past but I’ve never gone past what I, deep down, knew I could handle. This squat was heavy, but I still went for it. This squat was textbook. I set it up, I got steady, I hit depth. (Now don’t get me wrong, looking back at the video I could have made some minor adjustments to my technique and maybe I would’ve gotten it but that’s not the point here) I fought but I didn’t have it. That just what happens sometimes. We can do EVERYTHING right and yet, we will still fail. 

But I’m proof positive that you will survive it. Failing at anything won’t kill you, as long as you learn from it, mourn it and move past it. Failure builds character. It teaches us how to always have grace and how to keep going.

In the squat, you can’t bail. If you do, you will hurt yourself or someone else. But there’s a beautiful thing that happens when you don’t. Your spotters come through. Every time. And the same goes for life. You can’t bail. However, if you surround yourself with people who will always have your back you won’t be afraid to keep going. You can trust that someone will be there to help you up and help you start again. You don’t get to give up… you have 2 more lifts and 6 more things to do today! 

It’s ok to fail. It’s not ok to give up.

Photo Via Kaybro Photo