You have been working hard for a year saving up money to open a business that you've always wished to own. You put in the time for research and planning, you sacrifice many desires to save up the necessary amount of money, you then take out a loan and begin working hard on this new business of yours.

Two years down the track, your business crumbles, expenses exceed your profits, as a result you are forced to sell the business and the inventory to pay back the loan. The whole process consumed roughly three years of hard work and a great loss of profit. Imagine how you would be feeling the day after you sold everything.

Having sold the business you are asked questions by your friends and family, such as:
 
"How do you now feel about starting up a new business?" or

"In hindsight would you still have opened the business?" or

"Do you regret what you did 3 years ago?"

Your answers to these questions will depend solely on your personal perspective of the situation. Furthermore it will depend on your perspective on life as a whole. You see, your perception is the outcome of your mind processing the information given to it, which involves acquiring, interpreting and selecting certain information.
 
Peoples' perspective on the exact same situation can be completely different. For instance some will complain that roses have thorns, whereas others will rejoice because thorns have roses.

In regards to the new business scenario, what do you think your perspective would be? Most people would feel the urge to complain, or place the blame on an external factor or even feel a great sense of regret. However, the admired people that achieve true glory are those that try and find the positive outcome of every and any situation. The well known quote by Confucius perfectly summarizes my point that: 

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

It is crucial to understand that what happens in life is not as important as how you accept it. If your business didn't succeed, it isn't necessarily the end of the world. You would have gained priceless experience that you would have never acquired had you not taken the risks!

Your perspective can change the way you think about any given situation and make you realize that in the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.