Failure scared the life out of me. A sinking cake, a botched order, a failed social media post—it all seemed like confirmation I wasn't meant to do this. I'd stay up late replaying every blunder, thinking through all the ways in which I'd failed.

But gradually, I began to notice that I had been thinking wrongly. Failure is not the enemy. It is a teacher. Every failure has a lesson. A failed cake showed me patience and improved frosting methods. A delivery missed showed me planning and communication. A post that didn't show well taught me listening to my audience and experimenting without fear. And sometimes, the greatest lesson was that I should be gentler with myself.

Mistakes don't indicate that you are not capable. They indicate that you are attempting. They indicate that you are stretching, learning, and expanding. And the more you accept them, the more they change into stepping stones towards success.

Some of my best creations in my home bakery in Lucknow were the result of errors. A frosting mishap that did not set turned into a new design. A recipe mistake turned into a signature flavor.

Sweetest victories are sometimes made with the ingredients of defeat. And for real, the failures themselves? They make the experience richer, truer, and so much sweeter.