Failure can be terrifying. Whether it be with friends, at school, in sports, etc. Failure can often stop us from doing what we love. But, we need to be strong and not let failure over power us. We need to remember: every time we fail, we are one failure closer to success.
Often times, we think that failure is a bad thing as it degrades us and makes us feel like whatever we tried to do was not good enough. That feeling can be sickening. We have all been there. Whether we studied for a test days in advance, did every single problem on the review sheet, met with our teachers, and payed as much attention in class as humanly possible. Yet, we still did not get the grade we had hoped for. Or we had tried to mend a friendship countless times, trying to talk to them, tried giving them space, tried having other friends talk to them, but still did not get the desired result. Each time we felt like we failed. It is normal to feel like you not only failed at the activity, but also failed yourself. But, that is not the case.
Although, it’s extremely difficult to get up and work hard again after a setback, we need to remember that that is all it is. A setback. With the help of our friends, family, teachers, and counselors; we can get back up and try again. We learn from our mistakes and next time we get closer to success. As Oprah Winfrey said, “Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another steppingstone to greatness.” Failure is just something on the way; each time we feel like we failed, we are really just getting stronger and learning the lessons required to take our next step. Failure does not hurt us, but helps us learn from our mistakes and get closer to ultimate success.
Success is not success without failure and failure is not failure without success. Without failure, success would mean nothing to us. Think about that. If we did not know what failure felt like, we would not know what success would feel like. It would all be grey to us, no distinction.
Success and failure are intertwined. As Winston Churchill said, “success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm”. When I feel like I failed, I think of it as a test. Like something is testing me and making me try harder and push more. I am being tested to work harder. Failure challenges us and pushes us out of our comfort zones so we can become stronger and ultimately gain success. We have to stand up to failure. We need to prove that we will stay determined, passionate, and driven. We will not lose to failure. We will not let it steal our thunder.
We will stand up in the face of failure. And by doing that, we will be successful.
— Eliya Makabeh, Age15
although im scared of failure i do not have any motivation to do anything about it. i know i need to make myself better but i just feel exhausted and going through each days feels like huge task for me. Im at the point in my life where im confused on what i want to be and where i want to go. my parent being a typical Asian parent expect more from me that i dont think i will be able to provide. i know they have sacrificed a lot for me, to give me better education than them, to make me better than them. I know all that but still i am not happy for some reason. All i do is disappoint them. They compare me to other, i truly feel so frustrated at myself for not having any motivation to change my life even though i know im capable of doing it. in my family we do not talk about our emotion like western parent does, i never heard them say they love me even though i never doubt they love me, we never hugged or anything. When i look for help online all they never say is talk to your parent and make them see your viewpoint which i have tried countless time but it all ends in us yelling at eachother. other have said talk to my friend when im stressed out but all my friend are very superficial and they are also very smart and will be successful one day. they have the drive to study hard. but me i feel like a loser, me and my “friends” never talk about it. i think of my ideal life sometime and i get lost in my fantasy.