I don't know about you, but I really hate to fail. I am willing to do almost anything to avoid failing. I hate it. I am willing to do things I otherwise wouldn't want to do, only if it means I can avoid failing at something.
It's not so much about not getting what I want, however. I think, in isolation, I can grapple with that outcome and figure out what to do next.
The thing we seem to be afraid of is failing in front of others. We worry about what they'll think of us and our reputation. Our reputation is our brand, after all.
But maybe instead of thinking about this in terms of a binary "pass, fail" set of options, what if the reputation is a set of options surrounding what you do about failure. And maybe you were putting entirely too much pressure on yourself to achieve one outcome over another.
And so that is our struggle, our call to action. Fail - fail to allow yourself to grow. Fail - fail out of defiance. Who cares what anyone else thinks? What will you think when you didn't find the courage lying between the couch cushions to go do something your heart compelled you to do?