We tend to glorify success. We frame it in highlight reels, trophies, and polished “I made it” moments. Then we wrap it in a pretty pink bow and call it a gift. We show up for our successes and people cheer and tell you how talented you are! Yet underneath no one saw the struggle, the failures, the growth…
Most people believe everyone who is successful was born that way. They believe everyone who has failed should have known better… But here’s the truth: growth doesn’t come from success. It comes from failure. Success comes from growth—not the other way around.
Learning from my failures.
My failures have been loud, messy, and sometimes painfully public. They’ve come with tears, frustration, and that ugly little voice that whispers, “You’re not enough.” But you know what else they came with? Lessons I couldn’t have learned any other way.
I’ve launched things that flopped, like HUSH BOX. Trusted people who didn’t have my back, like my ex husband and various others. Stayed in situations too long, like my situationship I was in for 3 years. Tried to shrink myself to fit spaces that didn’t deserve me. And every single one of those moments has taught me something that contributed to my growth.
Success is messy, and it’s rarely perfect. It’s built on trial and error, late nights, broken trust, and rebuilding yourself more times than you can count. It’s built on angry moments when you want to give up, on sadness that sneaks in even when you’re doing everything “right,” and on accepting hard truths about yourself and others. It’s the awkward missteps, the panicked overthinking at 2 a.m., the quiet cries in the shower so no one else can hear, and the days you show up anyway with puffy eyes and shaky confidence. It’s admitting you don’t know the answers, but try anyway. It’s in the moments you want to give up, you’re done, you’re sure you cannot take any more, but you give it one more shot. It’s making decisions you’re not 100% sure about, failing, and then making them again—this time with a little more wisdom.
The highlight reel doesn’t show the breakdowns, the burnout, or the crying-on-the-bathroom-floor moments—but that’s where the real transformation happens. Not in the applause, but in the silence when no one’s watching and you choose to rise anyway.
The truth is, I didn’t grow in the moments where everything went right. I grew in the moments where everything fell apart, and I had to figure out how to keep going anyway. I stopped chasing perfection and started chasing progress. I stopped looking for someone to save me and decided to save myself. Growth happened when I started to evaluate my failures to learn from them.
Growth doesn’t feel glamorous. Not for nothing, it’s down right fucking scary having to admit failure and that I didn’t know everything. But it’s powerful and beautiful. And eventually, success follows—not because you’ve been flawless, but because you’ve been relentless.
So here’s to the failures that shaped us, the lessons that humbled us, and the strength we didn’t know we had until life gave us no choice but to find it. March on and dare to make mistakes! Celebrate them- LOUDLY!