Failure. Failure is something we all fear and a word we don’t want to be associated with. To fail, for most people, means that they were not good enough; that they fell short. People fear failure too often. Instead, I believe we should embrace it.
While it never feels good to fail at something, not succeeding at something uncovers an array of lessons that might not have been learned otherwise.
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I, like many people, have been a failure too many times to count. I said what most people deny: I have failed. Unlike most people, I say that with a sense of pride. I know that without my lack of success I would not be as successful as I am today.
My senior year of high school started with two major failures: a busted party and a rejection letter. Never in a million years would I ever think that those two things would impact my life positively, but they did.
First came the small gathering that turned into a run-in with the local police. I felt like my life was over (even though it wasn't even a big deal) and that it would affect college and everything I had worked towards. It didn’t, and I grew up immensely. I never wanted to disappoint my parents like that, nor did I want my life to go down a bad path. Now the night is something that my friends and I laugh about. Oh, how much we have changed in such a short amount of time.
A week later, I received my first college notification… in a dreaded small envelope. I didn’t get into one of my top choice schools.
If only I had worked hard, gotten better grades and a higher ACT score, I thought.
I have come a long way since that afternoon, sitting on my couch reading the letter about my "failure." Today, I am SO thankful that I received that rejection letter. I would be drowning in debt, way farther from my family and not have the amazing new people in my life that I do now.
Failures are not always failures, but lessons. I truly believe that everything happens for a reason, good and bad.
Failing a test makes you remember your mistakes more, thereby helping you to not repeat them. A failed relationship sets an example of what kind of relationship you should stray from. There's a moral behind every defeat.
Your failures define who you are – not the lack of success, but how you handle it and what you do with it. Embrace every defeat that comes your way. Every failure is meant to happen.
