The Setback is real. It will happen to you. And not just once. It will happen often.
The Setback is most dangerous to the dreamer who doesn’t expect it. If you expect the road to your dream to be linear and predictable, the first setback may be your last. If you are relying on adrenaline and hype to get you through, it won’t.
The Setback can kill your dream because it requires you to go through a season that feels terrible. A season that may seem to prove all of your critics right. A season of public failure that can cause people to tilt their heads at you with a sad look in their eyes and ask, “How are you holding up?”
The Setback sucks.
This is when your resolve is tested. This is where your relationship with God is tested. More than anything, this is when your identity is tested. When you have improper identity placed on what you do your self-worth rises and falls with your success or failure. Remember, who you are is not what you do. When The Setback comes, it will put you in a place where you have to choose to believe it. Even when you don’t feel it.
Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.
—Galatians 6:4-5 (MSG)