Are you a failure?

To be a 'failure' in the traditional sense requires one of 2 alternatives;-

That you never tried anything, and squandered your potential, or
That you tried something and it didn’t become what some-one else expected it to become.
In my eyes, only one of those is a failure.

Would you really want to spend your last years regretting never having really tried? That despite being truly capable (and that opportunity was possible at your point in time & space) not that you tried and failed again & again, but that you never attempted in the first place. I think that would be the cruelest pain of all.

Not for me, that life of regret, of longing, of 'unrequited strove'; my path lies along that of striving, of endeavour and of enterprise. As to the 'why', I'll shall save that for another section and perhaps a book or two.

However, in being bold, the world in general will not treat you kindly - you must also learn to accept and overcome criticism, and by doing so, learn the qualities of resilience and fortitude. For you will be unappreciated, misunderstood and possibly even derided by the masses.

But the rewards, internal & external, of trying and perhaps never succeeding, are still far greater than you can imagine. For now, I'll give you one - the respect of your peers. For the rest, you'll have to subscribe to my musings.