You are a failure.Yes, I’m talking to you.

[Chris Stegall]

I’ve been a failure my whole life and there are a lot of people that has been there to tell me the whole time. Maybe it’s just me, but I think more people have an experience like I do but don’t speak up. Hear me out.

Growing up in Gainesville FL, I was a failure from birth. We lived in a trailer and I wore clothes that had holes in them. I didn’t have many friends except my sister and my brother. Everyone told me I was a failure and would never amount to anything because we were so poor. My father went on to kill my mother and himself. I was 8. Yes, I had no chance after that. I was still a failure and life hadn’t even really begun for me.

We moved to Mississippi. Most people would say that was setting me up for more ridicule and failure. I didn’t do well in school and I couldn’t sit still. I was in trouble all the time. This would go on until I graduate high school where I missed 58 days my senior year and yet they still let me graduate…

What do failures do when all else fails? They join the Army. I was in the 507th Maintenance unit at Fort Bliss Texas. Everything I touch, fails. While in that unit we deployed to Iraq in 2003. We lost 12 soldiers and had 6 POWs. Jessica Lynch being the most “famous”. Even in the Army I failed. I went on to get out as that was just not for me. I can fail just fine without all the yelling and shooting!

At this point in my life, I was proving everyone right. I was a failure. No future. I did get married but now I’m making her fail…. Lots of failure over the next few years. Now that I look back on it, I was only good at being a failure.

In 2015, I found out I loved real estate. I’ve slowly acquired 5 properties and I’m learning with each deal. The first two I bought were not the greatest deals let me tell you. I’m doing better now! I’ve learned to live off 20% of what we make so the extra can help me invest and move out of my “failure” status.

To this day, I’m still a failure. I have a $2,000 car that people make fun of, I buy used clothes or try to get them free, my wife walks to work, my best friend was born in a manger, I steal lyrics from a song, and I’m just a weird guy. I wouldn’t change anything about my life. I love failing. It has made me who I am. I just need to stop doing it so often! 

Yes, I’m pretty sure you are failure too. What I’ve learned in life is that no matter how much you fail, you just have to learn from it. Learn from others. They (and you) are failures too! Everyone tells you. 

I wish you all the best. Thanks for reading until the end! God bless.

Chris