Success and Failures: Why Both Are Okay

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a big dreamer. I dream about things a lot, whether it’s small everyday accomplishments or big life achievements, realistic or totally out of my reach. I’m the type of person who has goals and dreams and wishes but constantly puts myself down and thinks “you’ll never do that” and “ha you wish!” so although I have huge aspirations, I don’t always believe that I can reach them. That is, until I fulfilled one of my biggest goals of blogging, something I’d seen others do and thought “damnnnn I wish I was them!” or “they’re so lucky!” I went to a movie premiere. 

Back in August I tweeted this very tweet and I remember at the time thinking that I’d be lucky to even be behind the ropes of a film premiere, gazing as the stars walked on the red carpet. I’d seen bloggers attend the BAFTAs, award ceremonies, movie premieres in London and I always thought about how lucky they were, how much I’d love to be able to do that and how much of an achievement it would be. Then something amazing happened. I was invited to one of the biggest movie premieres of the entire year and not only that, it was Harry Potter related (anyone who knows me will know how much this means to me!). Yup, I was invited to the European premiere of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, a film I’ve been waiting for like a crazy woman ever since I heard about it over a year ago. 

Walking down the blue carpet was absolutely surreal and a true “pinch me” moment and being one of the first in the country to see the film from a world that has basically been my life since the age of 6 was just amazing. The film was incredible and I met some lovely bloggers and YouTubers along the way, including total babe Laura Blair and I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited for ANYTHING in my entire life. 

Anyway, if you’d have asked me even a month ago, I’d say this kind of dream was totally aspirational and I’d never have thought it was achievable for me. Well, I proved myself wrong and I just think you should never be afraid to dream big. There’s no harm in aiming high and no way should you beat yourself up about it but equally, you shouldn’t beat yourself up if you don’t achieve them. I set myself a really high goal for YouTube subscribers for the end of the year which I haven’t reached but that’s okay! While it’s great to achieve your really high-aiming goals, it’s equally okay not to achieve them. 

It’s okay to fail and it’s okay to “give up” on a goal if it’s actually holding you back. Of course everyone should strive to achieve goals but really what they’re there for is to spur us on, to make us better as people and to motivate us to work harder. If we have a goal or target that we recognise is totally unobtainable after we’ve tried and tried and tried, it’s okay to alter it or change it to something that will have a positive impact on your life. We need to stop beating ourselves up, whether it’s over setting our goals too high or not achieving the ones we do set.

I’ve been thinking about the things I’ve achieved this year that I either never thought were possible or totally beat myself up about and said that I wouldn’t be able to. I’ve been to the movie premiere, I’ve modelled in campaigns, I’ve started making more YouTube videos, I graduated with a 2:1 and so many more smaller, everyday achievements that we don't congratulate ourselves enough for. Yet despite all of this, there are many things I’ve failed at, targets I didn’t reach or things I just totally messed up, things in my life I’m not happy with even though I told myself I would be. And that’s okay too. Successes and failures are both lessons and when we move forward from them, they both help us grow in the end.

Also, speaking of the Fantastic Beasts premiere (which let’s be honest I’m never going to stop speaking about), I filmed a Get Ready With Me video on the day of so head over to my YouTube Channel to see how I did my make-up and the like for the red carpet! I’d love for you to subscribe and give me a big thumbs up too if you enjoy my video!

What do you think of setting your goals high?

Amy x