Failure

Another word that keeps coming up in 2026 is failure.

But not in the way I used to use it.

I started 2025 with a blog all about failing on purpose.

Roughly this time last year, I was off balance, out of sorts, and trying to find my way back. I had been letting things slip through my fingers that I was in control of and did nothing but delay the inevitable.

I was failing, because I was afraid.

I figured things had never worked out, so why should I keep trying.

But that mentality is what got me here in the first place.

I knew then, things needed to change. That’s largely when I made the decision that I needed to move.

I didn’t want it to be about running away, but rather, returning to something that had always been a part of me.

Texas.

I have done a lot of growing in that state and I know there is still more left to do there.

It had been the plan years ago, long before I forgot who I was.

So I used 2025 as a year for growth, research, opportunity, choices, and acceptance.

Now that I’m on the edge of making that choice a reality, I am faced with failure again – but not in the way that I used to view that word.

In weight lifting, training to failure is where you can no longer complete another rep with proper form. It’s a way of pushing your muscles to see exactly how far they can go with the current weight you are using.

I’ve been going to the gym for three months, and at first, I thought failure to complete a set was in fact failure. Not a good thing.

However, I can see now that the only way for me to gauge how my body is responding to an increase in weight is through failure.

Failure is the door.

Failure is the point of redirection.

Failure is necessary.

As I have begun searching for my nexts in Waco, failure has become the guidepost for my discernment.

Eventually, every no, every so-called failure will help me find exactly where I’m meant to be.

And I don’t know why I’m surprised by that, it’s exactly how I got here.

Every time something has worked out in my life, there was always a no first.

When I started shopping for my first house I fell in love with a particular one, only to find out as we went into it for the tour, that it was under contract.

I couldn’t believe it. It felt like home as I walked through it.

I asked my realtor to make an offer on a different property and when he called me to finalize it a week later, he told me that the offer on the house I loved had fallen through and they were ready to accept my offer if I was still interested. I remember the phone call. I remember where I was sitting. I remember that feeling of surprise and joy.

I know that will happen again because I’ve already received my first no, so now, I’m ready for the surprise ending.

You see, failure is ultimately about trust.

It’s about trusting that whatever is not for you, is still for you, because it guides you to what is.

Whatever you need to fail at in life right now – do it. All those failures just mean you are getting stronger and setting yourself up for what comes next.

❤