A Chance to Fail

[€uroMeinke]

As I mentioned elsewhere, I saw Mathew Bourne speak last night about creating Play without Words. In telling the story he mentioned that it was to be an experimental work, so that gave him a "chance to fail" – I just loved that statement and thought about how liberating that perspective could be.

So I thought I pose this questions – what might you attempt to do, if you were given the “chance to fail” i.e. there would be no negative consequence to the act, other than you might not succeed in your "experiment?"

I need to comtemplate this a bit for myself, but I know on the one side is feeding my wanderlust, that is to pick up and move to a foreign place, such as Paris, and see if I could actually live there in a comfortable fashion. Another part of me wonders about the risks I might take in being more creative, such as taking a leave of absence to write a novel - hmmm maybe in Paris...

But what might you try if failure was okay?

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Eventually compiling some finished work together and sending it to publishers, is the first thing that comes to mind.

Writing a play (short one) and having it performed at my father’s theater company.

Marriage. I say I don't want it, but I'm sometimes lying. I just feel fairly certain that I'll be a failure at it, because I'm selfish and need lots of time to myself, and don't always want to deal with another person's immediate presence, and don’t like having to consider another person’s feelings before my own *all* of the time. I’ve rarely felt a person’s worth that kind of bother, actually. The compromise that comes with uniting your life so completely with another person’s terrifies me, and yet the concept is kind of beautiful. I like covenants.

Living someplace rural, but nearing a small town.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Hmm. Cool thread.

I almost wrote "living in the big city" but seriously, I don't need a chance at New York apartment life to know that I would hate it. Same goes for living on a farm or in a small town.

Like Eliza - Taking a shot at getting published. But the thing is, I already have the situation where if I fail, it's ok (at least financially - dealing with a shattered ego is something else entirely). Unless it takes money to get published....does it?

Major in Philosophy, perhaps? Or some other totally not applicable to my career major.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Failure is OK.

I mean, it's never fun. But I moved to California with no job, no friends or family nearby, and no home. I did that with the possibility of failure in mind. I wouldn't say that I've found success in a career to which I aspire, but I have found happiness here.

I'd also agree that I'd like to get my stuff sent off to a publisher. Particularly Yoga for Fat Girls, much of which is off the ground, but much of which I'm a little too scared to share so far.

I'd like to direct again. I have the degree. I have the professional and educational experience. I have to have the trust in myself to come back to it, and the commitment to the time involved.

[innerSpaceman]

Write that novel I've been waiting to be inspired to write for a few decades.

Actually, I don't so much need a chance to fail as I need a chance to attempt. (Read: SugarDaddy support while I indulge my habit of writing 2 pages per day while livin' large and not working a 9to5.)

[Cadaverous Pallor]

If we all quit writing here and wrote pages instead, we'd each have about 10 novels to our names by now.

[mistyisjafo]

Run for a political office. Hey, I've got a poli sci degree may as well do something with it!

[Ghoulish Delight]

1) Make the jump into technical marketing (as opposed to the technical technicaling that I do now). I may yet do it, though unlikely in an no-consequences environment.

2) See this thread

[€uroMeinke]

Originally Posted by LSPoorEeyorick

Failure is OK.

I heartily agree - but I find this notion, of being given a chance to fail such a charming little though experiment that, at least for me, makes me think about what I stop myself from doing for fear of failure - hopefully this might even encourage me to take some of those risks.

I think it reveals what's already in your power to do, as opposed to fantasizing about that Sugar Daddy - which is perhaps the subject of another thread

[Name]

Livin it bro, at least in my opinion....I have already failed many small failures at marketing myself, almost to the point of being evicted. If I hadn't found solutions to coming up with money, I would be sleeping on someones couch right now. I don't think I would have learned as much as I had if I had not failed. And in my opinion, the only time I will fail, is when I give up.