For me, to never try at something would be a lot worse than failing at it. I think part of the fun and learning experience of what we do in our everyday lives is trial and error. Think back to when you were a child to first time you ever tried to ride a bicycle without stabilisers… I remember falling off my bike more times than I can count but I kept dusting myself down and getting back on because I was determined to be able to ride my new bike. Imagine if you fell off your bike the first time you rode it then never tried again, that would be much worse than the scraped knees you got from trying. Eventually I succeeded but it was trying again and again that got me there. I find that if you keep trying at something it is more rewarding when you finally get there in the end.
Here are a few iconic figures that did not let failure stop them:
– Winston Churchill – After being in politics for a while he eventually became Prime Minister at the age of 62.
– Thomas Edison – His teachers put him down, one of them telling him he was ‘too stupid to learn anything’, but that did not stop him. He created at least 1000 light bulbs before he made a light bulb that worked.
– Dr.Suess (Ted Geisel) – who is now famous all around the world for his imaginative and extremely clever children’s stories, tried to publish his first work and got rejected by 27 publishers.
– Walt Disney – It is hard to imagine but a newspaper editor once fired him because he ‘lacked imagination and had no good ideas’. He was determined to prove people wrong so he kept trying and trying and succeeded.
– Marilyn Monroe – one of the most iconic beautiful women of all time experienced failure too. Her first contract with Columbia Pictures expired because they told her she was not pretty or talented enough to be an actress. Clearly she did not let that affect her and proved them wrong indeed!
– Oprah Winfrey – One of the most famous talk show hosts in the world was fired from her job as a television reporter because she was told she was ‘unfit for TV’.
These people did not get to where they did through not trying. To never try at something is worse than failing because failure at something teaches us valuable life lessons. Whereas never trying or risking anything leaves us with the thought of what might have been or should have been. Also if we never failed at anything then everything would be easy and we would take advantage of the fact that sweat, determination and hard work gets us to where we want to be in the end. Whatever your passion you should keep trying and trying even if you fail because failure does not matter, it drives us, making us closer to achieving our goals and ambitions that we have.
Sophie Chekruga 