Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in 1841 on the topic of Self-Reliance:
“If our young men miscarry in their first enterprises, they lose all heart. If the young merchant fails, men say he is ruined. If the finest genius studies at one of our colleges, and is not installed in an office within one year afterwards in the cities or suburbs of Boston or New York, it seems to his friends and to himself that he is right in being disheartened, and in complaining the rest of his life.”
Especially if you are European (as I am) this sounds awfully familiar, doesn’t it? Failure is no option. Trying, failing and going bankrupt is the worst which can happen. There are no second chances. All that crap which our culture puts into our heads and hearts…
Bullshit.
Emerson goes on to say: “A sturdy lad from New Hampshire or Vermont, who in turn tries all the professions, who teams it, farms it, peddles, keeps a school, preaches, edits a newspaper, goes to Congress, buys a township, and so forth, in successive years, and always, like a cat, falls on his feet, is worth a hundred of these city dolls. He walks abreast with his days, and feels no shame in not ‘studying a profession,’ for he does not postpone his life, but lives already. He has not one chance, but a hundred chances.”
Be that sturdy lad. This is the only way progress is being made. Persevere and you will see — just like a cat you will fall on your feet.