Appearing on Gyles Brandreth's podcast Rosebud last month, Elizabeth Day—host and creator of the podcasts How to Fail and Best Friend Therapy—said:

Failure connects us all. So if you're feeling like a failure, all that means is that you're human and that other people have that feeling too—so many more people than you would think. They might not always show it, and they might be scared of their own vulnerability. But I can guarantee you that we've all experienced it in some way. And one of the bravest, most courageous, most connecting things you can do is to talk openly about it to someone else.

Day's statement was comforting, reminding me that we all fail from time to time.

When we admit our mistakes, we acknowledge our humanity. We take the first steps towards learning from our failings and forgiving ourself. And we're more likely to accept that others fail too.