Does anyone remember the old cartoon Dudley Do-Right? He was the bumbling hero in both the Rocky and Bullwinkle ‘filler’ cartoons and in a live action movie starring Brendan Fraser. He often made mistakes, was a klutz and often looked like a fool, but at the end of the day, he was the unsung hero.
I recently saw a meme on social media with his picture and the quote “If You Try, You Risk Failure, If You Don’t, You Ensure It.” Now, I have no clue if this quote is from the show or is from someone else, but it certainly fits him. He always took a risk, even if it ended in disaster…or Snidely Whiplash trying to foil his plans. He often became the hero, but the most important thing is that he risked failure in order to make it happen.
This got me thinking about things in my own life. Over the last several years, I took many risks, some of which ended in failure. I moved to a new city for something that ended up NOT working out, things in my life often didn’t go as planned and there were times where I had my own Dudley moments, minus the riding backwards on a horse named Horse.
While these failures may have broken me in the moment, they also became learning experiences. For example, I learned how to live completely on my own, I learned how to handle different situations when it comes to relationships (with or without dealing with my own Snidely Whiplashes) and I took moments of frustration and turned them into building new success.
None of this would have been possible without taking those risks and knowing I could fail. Yes, there were times when things didn’t go as planned, but had I not taken those risks, I would not be where I am now. My Dudley moments may not have been my best moments, but they helped shape me into who I am today. I risked failure, I faced failure, but had I not taken those risks, I would have not only failed, but would have also spend my life wondering ‘what if.’
I hope you all go out there and have your own Dudley moments. You may succeed, things may or may not go as planned, but the most important thing is you took that risk….which makes you a hero (or a Dudley) in your own right.
