I'm one of those people who don't like to think about things going wrong. That doesn't mean I don't consider the risks. Am I an optimist? A realist? Naive? Perhaps. I figure if I start something thinking I will fail then I surely will and I may as well not start it at all. I also believe that things happen for a reason, even when it's not something good. It might take a while to find out what that is and sometimes I may never figure it out.

When something goes wrong we have a number ways we can handle it. We can - Give up; try again; get mad; get even; get discouraged; get encouraged; etc. Sometimes we might have different responses for different situations e.g. we might be encouraged when something goes wrong when we are experimenting with cooking and we might get discouraged when we get knocked back when presenting an idea we have. It depends a lot on how invested we are in the situation or outcome (e.g. 'our idea') and how much 'failure' we choose to tolerate in order to succeed (e.g. cooking).

What we do when things go wrong says a lot about us - How we pick ourselves up and keep moving forward; How we learn from our experience. We learn more about ourself and others from what we do when things go wrong then when they go right. Not doing things because we are more worried about what could wrong versus what happens if it all goes well says even more about us.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while DARING GREATLY so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory or defeat. ~ Theodore Roosevelt