My wife’s been acting strange the past week.
When I lean in for a kiss, she turns her head. When we’re watching TV, she sits on the floor rather than next to me on the couch. When we’re in bed, she’ll periodically get up and go to another room in the house.
No, we’re not having marital problems. She’s battling a cold.
And, because she’s a good person, my wife has made it her mission to ensure I don’t catch it.
She won’t kiss me for fear of germs. She sits on the floor so I won’t breathe her air. She gets out of bed at night and goes to another room for fear her coughing fits will wake me.
In short, she’s a peach. She’s majorly inconvenienced herself and bent over backwards in order to keep me healthy. I can state without an ounce of sarcasm or irony that she deserves a medal of honor for her Herculean efforts the past seven days.
I caught her cold anyway, of course.
That’s life.
Despite your best efforts, some things just happen.
You can email your mailing list daily or once in a blue moon, but you’re still going to have unsubscribes.
You can write amazingly in-depth, heart-felt blog posts that bring tears to the eyes of grown men, but you’re still going to receive the occasional comment or email that’s negative.
You can try every trick, tip, strategy, blueprint, game plan, program, suggestion, proposal, recommendation, advice, insight, or pearl of wisdom imaginable; but you’re still going to fail more times than you succeed.
That doesn’t mean you give up. It doesn’t mean you don’t try.
It just means it’s silly to worry about the unsubscribes. It’s pointless to dwell on the haters and their negativity. It’s a waste of time living life trying to avoid failure.
Because you will fail ? more times than not. And if you live your life desperately trying to avoid it, you’re going to miss out on life.
Go send that email you believe will benefit your readers. Go write that blog post you’re passionate about. Go try that trick, strategy, or blueprint you hope will succeed despite long odds.
Just do your best.
Celebrate the wins.
Forget the losses.
And definitely give your spouse a kiss ? even if you have a cold.
They’re going to catch it anyway, after all.
Creative Commons Image via Gerry Lauzon.
