Have you ever wondered if a compromise is considered a success or a partial failure? Semantically, compromise leads to a compromised result or product. So one would say this is definitely a failure. But what are the criteria?

Achieving 100% of the desired result cannot be the only way to succeed – it is too limiting. Perhaps, the magic of compromise is that it shows us that not only can we survive, but we can also be actively happy with less than we think. It teaches us that we are stronger and more resilient. If we could accept this criterion, we would begin to see compromise as a source of growth and enrichment. Correctly;

The myth of easy success at any cost

We’ve gotten so caught up in the mindset of trying to be the boss. The world demands it from us. We women devalue and limit ourselves every day of our lives, for various reasons. Very young and inexperienced at first, very old and unattractive later. Too skinny, too fat, too cute or not cute enough, too girly or too tomboyish. Unsuitable for science (or so they say) or too romantic, living in a pink bubble. Unfit for leadership. To succeed, we have to sweat twice as hard. To demand a lot from ourselves, not to stumble even once.

And as if that weren’t enough, we also have a hyper-competitive and capitalist society, which places economic success and wealth as the ultimate (or almost the only) universal value, preferably displayed in the face of anyone we meet on our way. How do we let go of the fear of failure, the frenzy of perfectionism, the happy window dressing behind which we hide? Accepting the possibility of compromise, and thus of what could be considered failure.

The Girlfailure trend

What if, instead of constantly flaunting our achievements, even the fake and exaggerated ones, we honestly admitted that we face some failures, using those failures to learn and build? That’s what it seems thousands of other tired girls have wondered before us, launching the #girlfailure hashtag on social media, which today amasses tens of thousands of videos and over 11.4 million views on TikTok. A common sentiment, then, that under a layer of stern and bitter irony wonders, almost anxiously: what if we were all a bit of a failure?

@_monica_alexandra_ Not an It Girl just an average mess #girlbossbehavior #personalvlog #venttok #girlfailure ♬ IT GIRL (Sped up Version) – Aliyah’s Interlude

Solidarity in failure

According to Sarah Jones, who writes for Teen Vogue, there is an element of comfort and community building in this kind of content. Seeing other girls talk, ironically or not, about what they have done wrong, seeing examples of girls failing in books, TV series and movies, we come to terms with our weaknesses and regain the desire to try again. And once again, the concept of women’s solidarity comes to our aid, which, despite its fragmentation into two million nuclei and movements, when viewed from above, always looks richer. We are girls together, we will inevitably fail together and rise from our ashes together.