Her hands are shaking as she wipes down the steering wheel.
The street is quiet, but her heart isn’t. She’s already replayed it a hundred times in her head — every second, every sound. If she can just control every detail, maybe it’ll all disappear.
That’s what Christina Applegate’s character does in Dead to Me. And if you’ve ever failed at something big, maybe you know that feeling too — not the murder part (I hope), but the desperate need to bury the evidence. But here’s the thing: failing doesn’t define you.
Failure Isn’t Fatal: Why We Try to Bury Our Mistakes
We do this with:
✅Times we didn’t get promoted.
✅Interviews that didn’t go well.
✅Moments that felt like proof we weren’t good enough.
I know because I’ve been there.
I’ve failed more promotional interviews than I’ve passed. There were times I was convinced that failure defined me — that other people were whispering about it, judging me for it, remembering it forever.
But here’s the plot twist:
They weren’t.
People have short memories. Unless your mistake was fatal, nobody cares.
All that time I spent trying to “cover it up” — working extra hard to prove myself, shrinking in rooms because of what happened, worrying about what they might say — was time I could’ve spent preparing for the next opportunity. I forgot that failure isn’t fatal — it’s just part of the plot.
Today, I stand as:
- The only female Lieutenant in a department of 600+
- One of the youngest Lieutenants in the agency’s history
No one is whispering about the interviews I failed. No one is side-eyeing my past. It’s almost like it never happened.
Because when your perseverance outshines your setbacks, people stop seeing the setbacks.
Think about it:
- Oprah was told she wasn’t “fit for television.”
- J.K. Rowling was rejected 12 times before Harry Potter got published.
- Sara Blakely was laughed out of rooms before Spanx changed everything.
Failure isn’t fatal. It’s often the prologue to greatness.
We don’t talk about their early failures. We talk about their legacies.
And here’s the kicker: You can’t get to the highlight reel without some messy behind-the-scenes.
If you’re sitting in a season where failure feels heavy — stop trying to bury it. Stop trying to be “perfect.”
Face it. Learn from it.
And then get up and keep going.
Failure isn’t fatal.
It’s just a plot twist.
And who doesn’t love a good twist?
💬 What’s a “failure” you once wanted to bury — but now see as part of your comeback story?
Share in the comments below. 👇
To your Badassery,
Marie
💬 Liked this post?
Then you’ll love my Ordinary to Badass episode with Peak Performance Coach Jessie Torres: “Fierce Grace.”
In it, Jessie shares how courage and fear can coexist — and why your worth isn’t defined by your setbacks.
👉 Listen to the episode here