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.

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.