Fail First, Succeed Later
Sometimes it takes a little failure to get you farther.
When I was a freshman in high school, I was determined to try my hand at everything. Although I was the poster child for being extremely unathletic, I decided to try out for basketball. Because I went to an extremely small school, I was automatically placed on the team. I’ll spare you the details, but let's just say I have never scored a point in basketball to this day. I quit basketball after the season ended, and I never regretted that decision.
Why am I telling you this? All of my life, I was told that I was built for basketball. Turns out, I wasn’t. It took completely failing at the sport for me to understand that I am not obligated to be what other people expect me to be. It took that failure in order for me to succeed in other areas.
Basketball gave me the courage to try out for other things. I began to get more involved in school, trying out for musical theater and show choir groups. It allowed me to accept my faults and laugh off the curveballs that life threw my way.
Failure opened up an opportunity for me to become stronger. It opened up new opportunities that helped shape who I am. So, I may not have been a slam dunk at basketball, but I would consider myself a pretty good person. Failure leads you to where you want to go. As they say, when you hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up.
