This Is The Rain

Most readers will know I was mugged a while ago and that I'm purposefully not focusing on the negative points. For newer subscribers the rather lengthy story is here.

So, I'm not dwelling on it (honestly!) but I have to say I'm still feeling the effects. Or rather the effects of my sluggish response.

The light-fingered denizens of Barcelona really do provide a very swift and efficient decluttering service and as my phone was grabbed I tried to give chase.

I lost my balance and, being a bit overweight and the wrong side of 49, I tumbled heavily to the ground.

Aside from a couple of scraped knees and a sore arm it didn't look as though I'd done myself any injuries. Clearly the main damage was my ruptured pride.

But a few weeks later and a pain in the left side of my chest had developed and was now much worse.

After doing the usual Google medical checks (heart attack symptoms quickly discounted) it was pretty clear that I'd strained my intercostal chest muscles.

That's Forever She Said

And at the time of writing this Top Tips the pain has almost fully gone. Which leads us to this week's theme:

• Most setbacks are temporary
• Most pain is ephemeral
• Most problems are short lived
• Most failures are not long lasting.

I recently heard former Man Utd defender and Sky Sports chatterbox Gary Neville once say "Failure is a bruise, not a tattoo."

It's a great line and it really resonated. 

It's a useful way of reminding yourself that failure is fleeting. It's a good line to make you understand that, like my pain, it will go away.

It also made me think that too many of us treat failure like a tattoo. As if it is something permanent.

Maybe You Were A Little Hasty

Imagine that every time someone mentions Barcelona that I now immediately respond by saying "Oooh, I wouldn't go there if I was you. I had a terrible experience . . . blah blah blah moan moan moan etc." 

That would mean my bruise had become a tattoo. Something that I choose to make permanent.

I'm not going to do that. In fact I'm going to use it as a reminder for Gary Neville's quote.

So the mugging is now a metaphor for a metaphor about a failure being just a temporary thing. Very meta!

But here's the question for you. Which of your bruises do you treat like a tattoo?

Written There In Blue

Which of these are you still wincing about?:

• Relationship bruise
• Career bruise
• Family bruise
• Missed opportunity bruise
• Spilled milk bruise (yes, we're mixing metaphors on a grand scale today)

I do think there's the opportunity to use the pain of failure as motivation but that's for another Top Tips. Use failure while it lasts but don't feel as though it is part of you. 

You Change With The Weather

The important point today is that you can move on from a setback. Sometimes you just have to decide it's time. Let it heal and disappear.

"Just because you experience failure, doesn't mean you are one" is a quote I think I've come up with but I prefer "Failure is a bruise, not a tattoo."

It is a lot more figurative and visual. It can make you think carefully about how you treat failure. Make sure it's just a short term injury and not a permanent marking.