In 2012 the author Neil Gaiman gave possibly the most famous commencement speech of all time to the graduating students at the University of the Arts, London.

You may have seen it yourself, and you should look it up if you haven’t. I watch it whenever I’m feeling lost, or I’m doubting myself, or I’m stuck in a seemingly endless creative rut. Watching this speech always, and without fail, inspires and motivates me in ways I can’t begin to understand—maybe because the advice is so simple.

The central theme of the speech was to Make Good Art, no matter what: "Leg crushed and then eaten by a mutated boa constrictor? Make good art. IRS on your trail? Make good art. Cat exploded? Make good art. Someone on the Internet thinks what you’re doing is stupid or evil or it’s all been done before—make good art.”

Whatever terrible predicament you find yourself in, and whatever awful events are unfolding around you, making good art will always be your best way out.

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I know "failure” is a terrifying word. It sounds so…final. It sounds impossible to overcome. How can you ever come back from getting fired, or dumped, or your book of creative advice bombing and selling zero copies? How can you ever truly come back from failure?

This may be hard for you to believe, but everyone has failed. Every author of every book you have ever read, including this one, has failed. Every one of your peers and every person you admire has failed. Everyone you know and love has failed, and all of them will fail again.

If you think about it, you know that you have already failed too, probably a lot of times. You will have had failures that felt like a little blip, and failures that no doubt felt like the end of the world. Some of them are probably already replaying in your mind right now, or they will if you take a moment to think about them. All of those past failures, whether they’re at the front of your mind or a long-distant memory, can answer any questions or concerns you have about failing again in the future.

Each of those previous failures is a lesson. Some will offer you general reminders. That failure is okay, normal even. That failure is never as bad as you imagine it will be. That failure is rarely actually failing, by definition. That failure is never simply getting something wrong.

Some of those failures will offer more specific guidance. That you should tie your shoelaces properly before you leave the house. That you should never get a tattoo on a night out with friends. That you should stop thinking of all-you-can-eat buffets as a competitive task.

All of your past failures can answer the one burning question that you still have about failure itself. How can you ever come back from it? You already have done, many, many times. You have come back from all kinds of failures of all shapes and sizes, again and again.

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