ANN ANONYMOUS/Teen Columnist
Something most people try to avoid, something many people fear, and something many people don’t fully understand is failure.
Whether on an academic level or a physical one, not meeting your goals can be devastating. What you must realize is that you can actually benefit from these distressing experiences.
Humility is an exceptionally valuable quality in life for everyone to learn. It can enable you to live your life modestly and humbly. Humility is a way of living and it’s how you present yourself to the world. Humility allows us to steer away from ego-based opinions, conflicts and relationships.
Recently, I have experienced a failure of my own. To me, it was particularly upsetting and new. I had never disappointed myself like that before. The first step I took in dealing with that failure was to accept that it was my fault. You won’t truly understand humility if you don’t recognize that the responsibility falls on your shoulders.
Then I identified what solutions there were available to resolve my setback. Once I had finished identifying a resolution, I was able to process the letdown. My failure came on an academic level. I was capable of the realization that failure and lack of intelligence are not mutually exclusive. One does not indicate the other. My expressed humility within this experience taught me that even though a set goal was not reached, I, as a person, was not reflected upon poorly by my peers, my family or myself.
Humility allows you to live by your own standards and without fear. It can overrule the feeling of competition and the fear of judgment. What do you do with perceived failure? Is there a positive spin, such as a different way of learning, or perhaps an opportunity that can be created by not succeeding on your first try? I believe there is. A lack of success from any standpoint can increase your life experience and advance your learning. When you are disappointed with yourself, you strive to try again, harder this time.
Without failure in your life, there is no necessity to push yourself harder or farther for better results. To live a full rich life, I believe that all people need to experience the drive that is produced by failure.