Perceptions

I wanted to talk a little bit about perceptions. I have been using the quote by Henry Ford about failure lately and it seems to be coming up a lot more. He said "Failure is only an opportunity to do better next time." With such a short sentence, it packs a big punch with the underlying concepts. I have been beginning to understand it more and more as I live it out each day. I have been afraid of failing at things for a long time and the more I understand this concept the more I realize there is less and less to actually be afraid of.
So take for instance, this weekend I had to take care of the Service Engine Soon (SES) light on this new BMW I bought for the RelayRides business. It will not pass inspection without the issue taken care of. With the limited time I have, I decided to save money and work on it myself. As we were out running errands about 20 miles away from the house, I chose to replace a hose on the vehicle to clear the SES light before driving home. After I wrestled with this hose for 45min (10min job with the right tools) I finally got everything back together. But it did not run good after I started it. Long story short, I had to get a tow and have my cousin take us home. that was at 11:45pm. We didn't get home until 1:20am.
I skipped church the next day and finally got everything back together and even fixed a few more issues to boot. I had to clear the SES and drive it for 50 miles in order to make sure there we no more issues. At the 50 mile mark, I got the SES light again. This is a difficult issue to diagnose because it is a vacuum system mixed with the fuel system. So I am not done.
Even though this is a very frustrating situation, I chose to look at each area that most people would consider a failure as a moment in time to use to grow and move forward rather than allowing it to manipulate my mood and control my decisions. It still needs to be fixed and is costing me money just sitting there, but it is also an opportunity to grow. And that might be just what I need right now rather than success in finances.
I choose to look at it as a success in growth and the ability to handle stressful situations the right way. And my wife was supportive through the whole thing. I am so glad I have her.
So next time you run into a situation that you could consider a failure, stop for a second and ponder the lessons you could learn from it. You may grow more than you think, who knows you may even be able to handle it better next time.