Fear of Failure
(Written in 2010)
Quitting andĀ giving up are not always negative concepts like most of us are conditioned to see them as, but not trying or living because you’re afraid of not succeeding is never a good thing. It is true that many times you will fail; in fact, if you don’t ever fail at anything, then you’re probably not living as a full of a life as you were meant to live. But these failures strengthen your character and build you up to make you the person you were born to be. Here are a few quotes that inspired this, when I wrote it in early 2010.
“French writer. Total loser. Never had a real job. Unrequited love affairs. Gay. Spent 20 years writing a book almost no one reads. But he’s also probably the greatest writer since Shakespeare. Anyway, he uh… he gets down to the end of his life, and he looks back and decides that all those years he suffered, Those were the best years of his life, ’cause they made him who he was. All those years he was happy? You know, total waste. Didn’t learn a thing. So, if you sleep until you’re 18… Ah, think of the sufferingyou’re gonna miss.”
“A real loser is someone who’s so afraid of not winning he doesn’t even try.” -Little Miss Sunshine
One of my biggest fears, in a way much different than the fears ofĀ Ā goingĀ blind or drowning, is the fear of failure. When I see people put effort into things, itĀ makes me sad, and when they fail,Ā I want toĀ cry. It should not be this way! In my 20 years of life, I have never put 100% into anything, not a single thing. In this movie, every character pours their heart and soul into a goal, and fails. And thats what happens in real life too. Thats what my mom has been telling me my whole life.
Struggle is the meaning of life, and you should never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game. All that’s important is that you try your best at everything, because thats all you can
Struggle is the meaning of life, and you should never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game. All that’s important is that you try your best at everything, because thats all you can
do, and thats what matters in the end. You just have to do what you love, and forget the rest. Everyone puts effort into things, and suffering, struggling, failure, thats life!
Ā
I did not realize this until just this year; there is nothing I wanted more than to be accepted into a nursing school, and after all of high school and four years of college, I decided to put my all into nursing prerequisites, hoping for the best but being prepared for the worst. And I excelled. And I was accepted. This made me want to dwell on the twenty-two years I wasted, not living up to my full potential because of the fear of failure, but I know that it is never too late; I have finally realized that it is okay to fail- the only real failure is one who cannot get back up after falling.