Disasters and Failing

Well the trip to Gladstone went well. It started badly though with Qantas making several stuff ups with my boarding and check in procedure resulting in missing a flight and missing the start of the seminar I was teaching! Good flight – short comfortable trip. Refreshments provided were a single cookie and a half cup of water so I felt very priveleged!

Zen Chi Ryu were great hosts and provided about 16 participants for the Tai Ji workshop. Whole new world for many of them but they embraced it all with an open mind. I look forward to returning in August. The impending cyclone had everyone on high alert and steps were taken to prepare for a posssible hit. Everything outside put well away, food, radios, torches and batteries stocked up on. I was flying out just ahead of it so I was only expecting a fast flight back to Brisbane! Had another alert over the Sat night. Police knocking on our front door at 3am saying prepare to evacuate – there was a house fire a couple of properties away and there were concerns about gas bottles etc. In the end we were fine to stay but when I checked the place out the next day, there was nothing but a shell left. Maybe they’ll rethink inviting me up there again?

Cyclone resulted in wet weather here in Brisbane and as a result I’ve had a few days off work. Caught up on several tasks and even had an induction for this next project I’m applying for. The Airport Link/Northern Busway is 2-4 years potential work which would be great to be included on going into this financial/employment crisis.

If I have tomorrow off I’ll try to catch up with a few people and continue with my committee tasks!

To finish have a think about this quote from Michael Jordan. He puts into personal context the saying if at first you don’t succeed, try try, again.

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.”
– Michael Jordan

Failing helps you succeed, as long as you continue to try. And it helps if you learn something from the failure as well. So don’t be afraid to fail. Failing is only ‘bad’ if you you don’t try in the first place, or if you give up!