This was a thought inspired by Vera’s comment in my post on snowboarding. She said “[falling is] incredibly humiliating. 🙂 But falling down doesn’t really hurt me I guess.” I think it was a great comment.

To continue with the same analogy, in snowboarding, falling down doesn’t really hurt. It’s humiliating at times. But it doesn’t really hurt. That’s the case sometimes in life as well. Falling can be humiliating. Failing can embarrass you. But sometimes, it doesn’t really hurt. And you should just get up and move on.

Of course, that’s not always the case. Take the example of skateboarding (chosen mainly because of the relation to snowboarding). When you skateboard, you aren’t on snow. You’re on wood or concrete. Falling on concrete or wood hurts. That’s why you learn how to fall when you learn skateboarding. It minimizes injuries.

Two tips on how to fall (from the National Safety Council):

• If you fall, try to roll rather than absorb the force with your arms.
• Even though it may be difficult during a fall, try to relax your body, rather than go stiff.

The best way to fall is to go with it. And the same applies in whatever you do. You are going to fail sometimes. And if you try to force the issue, if you insist that you didn’t make a mistake and steadfastly try to continue what you’re doing, it’ll hurt you more in the long run. The best thing to do about it is to just relax, and let it happen. Then get up, and move on.

How do you react when you fall?