My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.

Failing is an event; making peace with it prematurely is a decision. The worry is not about the setback but about the moment it stops stinging, because that is usually when a person quietly reclassifies a temporary state as their permanent situation. Contentment of that kind looks like maturity from outside and often is not. It is also true that some things genuinely should be let go, and knowing which is which is the whole difficulty.

Ask yourself whether you have accepted something because you examined it or because accepting was easier than trying again. The answer is usually available if you sit with the question for a minute.