Feathers

I have plenty of people who want to see me fail.  I have come to realize, especially after stepping into this role as a principal, that sometimes people will develop some pretty strong feelings and opinions towards your life, your successes, and your choices--for reasons that I bet even they would struggle to explain.  I am not foolish to the notion that plenty of folks secretly applaud my failures with greater fervor than any support they offer towards my successes.   Sadly, I have learned that the better I do for myself, the meaner people become.  It's sad, but it's true. I'm sure many of you can relate.  I am certain I am not alone in my discovery of one of the uglier sides of human-kind.

I will say this, though, in response to those who take any kind of pleasure in my failures. First and foremost, and as Michael Jordan once put it, it is because I have failed over and over, that I succeed. People who know success are no stranger to failures.  What sets them aside is that when life bucks them off in 4 seconds, they get the hell back on that bull and ride for 5 seconds the next time.  Eventually--they take it the full 7. I am not afraid or ashamed of any failure I have experienced in my life. I understand the role of failure in a successful life. First, I get that it's inevitable. I'm going to fall on my face--over and over-- and then I'm going to get back up, wipe the dirt off my chin, and do it again. You know--the best fighters don't walk into any championship fight without scars.  Hell no. They walk in with scars all over their body--and it's because of that elevated gash on their left cheek that they understand when to duck, slide, lean in, and strike.  They didn't get that from a video--they got that from getting hit--over and over again. I am not afraid of my failures--I am afraid of the day I don't get back up.  And that day is not here.

Something else these folks may want to know about me...I am motivated heavily by doubters.  There is something internally thrilling about proving people wrong. I've done it my whole life.  Of course, I'm only human, so when people sling mud at me, my first instinct is to disappear inside myself and take it to heart...but I have learned my next move is almost always to move into action.  Here's what happens....they show up with a knife in hand ready to slash my tires--then end up putting fuel in my car instead.  I hit the gas pedal...and they earn their reflection in my rear-view mirror.

Lastly, I will say this.  Whatever motivates us to tear people down--to interfere with their path in life, and develop opinions that are often and most-likely uniformed...I offer this challenge:  take 90% of the energy you pour into the pain you work so hard to inflict on others and place that energy into your own life.  You cannot build your own wings from the feathers you have plucked from others...they must grow from within you.  

I am not ashamed of the life I lead and I should not be anything but proud of the successes I have found along the way...and so, despite how some have tried to make me feel, I will not apologize for the woman I am today. So long as my values are not compromised and my ambitions never outweigh my sense of what is right and fair in this world, then I will continue to move forward in my life without giving in to those who want me so desperately to give up.  This blog will probably never change the sad reality that mean-spirited people will always hoist themselves up on the nearest roadblock, taunting and criticizing your every move--but it will also not change my steadfast commitment to the life I am determined to lead.  

Those folks can have a few of my feathers--I've got a solid set of wings.