“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” – Les Brown

Let Go Of the Fear Of Failure

No great journey is going to be totally free of failure. Failure is what teaches us what not to do, and it tells us exactly what kinds of challenges we are capable of overcoming. At the same time, it gives us a point of reference from which to create future goals; if you couldn’t do it before, then you may aspire to be able to do it one day. Many people hate a challenge and the possibility of failure, and it results in them giving up prematurely so as to avoid the humiliation of losing. At the same time, this may result in a period of stagnation, as most forms of significant progress can’t be achieved without first accepting the possibility that you may fail. However, the strongest people are those who can keep going, and will continue to get back up even after they have been knocked down time and time again. Look at these challenges as an opportunity to better yourself and prove your worth. Keep your eyes peeled for possible lessons, as they may teach you how to avoid these same issues in the future. If you do get knocked down, take a moment to carefully consider what led you to this point. What did you do wrong? What can you do next time to produce better results? By shifting your mentality so as to take every setback as a learning opportunity, you will greatly increase your ability to visualize a hopeful future filled with success. Even if you have to fail a few times first, you will eventually learn exactly what the situation needs in order to produce a success. Continue to put forth your best effort and strive for success, but don’t be surprised when you get tripped up a few times along the way.

Romance is not always sunshine and rainbows. There are arguments and breakups, unrequited loves and missed opportunities that can haunt us for years to come. In giving your heart to another person, there is always going to be the underlying fear that they are going to break it; there is nothing that we can do to totally prevent this. Instead, we must be prepared for the fact that not every relationship is going to end in a life-long romance. You may find that this person isn’t everything that you thought them to be. Or perhaps you realized that you placed your love with the wrong person, neglecting another potential connection due to an impulsive decision. Just as much as love can bring us extremely high “highs”, they can also bring us to very low “lows”. You may have found yourself subjected to one of these “lows” recently, and it has severely damaged your ability to freely show love and affection to a romantic partner. You may be recovering from a breakup due to the fact that you caught your partner cheating, and have been unable to trust those around you in the same way that you could before. Or perhaps you were rejected by someone that you held deep feelings for, and are now afraid to confess your feelings to another person that you have been gravitating towards. Despite the fact that your heart has been broken before, this does not mean that every romantic partner is going to hurt you in the same way. By holding yourself back and hiding your true feelings, you are only subjecting yourself to a different type of pain. While it is normal to take time to let yourself heal, this does not mean that you can wallow in your sorrow forever; take this as a sign that it’s time to put yourself back out there! The fear of getting your heart broken again only serves to hold you back from true connections with new partners, and may even stand as a potential source of conflict in future relationships. Instead, take a moment to recognize what you can learn from this heart break and move forward as a stronger, more resilient individual.

SWORDS. EIGHT.

A woman, bound and hoodwinked, with the swords of the card about her. Yet it is rather a card of temporary durance than of irretrievable bondage.

Divinatory Meanings: Bad news, violent chagrin, crisis, censure, power in trammels, conflict, calumny; also sickness.

Reversed: Disquiet, difficulty, opposition, accident, treachery; what is unforeseen; fatality.

Finding stability in our dream job is not an easy journey for most people. We may struggle to get the proper education or training in the face of time, societal, and economic constraints. We may be forced to prioritize our day-to-day living expenses so as to simply survive, leading to our ultimate dreams constantly being placed on the back burner. Or perhaps we don’t have the confidence in our own abilities to succeed in that field upon hearing that there is a massive amount of talented individuals who are already competing for a limited number of positions. The threat of failure looms behind your dream, making it difficult to take any real steps on the road towards achieving it. Instead, you’ve let yourself settle for a career that is anything but what you truly want to do in life. While taking the risk and going after your dream job is an extremely stressful decision, it is not one that should be delayed simply due to the fact that you are afraid that things won’t work out exactly as you plan. No matter what you do in regards to your career, there is always the underlying threat that your current situation could be suddenly flipped on its head. You could always lose your job for one reason or another. You may find yourself unable to work due to unforeseen circumstances. While this is not to say that you should be paranoid of any of the things, it does mean that you are not perfectly safe from similar fears just because you’ve chosen to stay safe in your current position. Instead, move forward towards your goals with the mindset that, should things go wrong, you will figure out how to adapt to them. Just as much as you may have a backup plan should something go wrong now, you are perfectly capable of having a Plan B in moving forward along the path to your dream job. If it is truly something that is meant to be, it will most likely not be something that is going to be simply handed to you; you’ll need to earn it. However, once you have overcome these failures and truly earned your victory, it will make it all the more sweet.

In the face of failure, it isn’t always easy to admit that it was due to our own negligence or lack of applicable skills. When The 8 of Swords appears in the reversed position, it may be a sign that you aren’t recognizing the part that you’ve played in bringing about your own failure. While it is very easy to focus on what other people did wrong, it is not so easy to acknowledge the fact that you are not always in the right. By taking a moment to humble yourself and admit to your shortcomings, you will be able to truly learn from your mistakes in a way that will make you a better person for the future. Carefully evaluate your own actions and strive to be the best person that you can be instead of laying all of the blame on others.