As Notre Dame students, we are driven, hard working, passionate, intelligent, and successful. Perhaps one of our greatest fears is failure. Whether our goals are academic, social, or professional we want to succeed. But failure is good for us. It’s terrifying, but nothing has a great ability to teach us more than failing on occasion.
I am just as afraid of failure as everyone else. I don’t want to disappoint my parents, I want to do well in all of my classes, and when I apply for internships I want to get interviews that lead to a position. I try to avoid letting my friends down and I hope that the Pinterest recipes I disregard halfway through cooking turn out ok. I don’t want to fail. It’s embarrassing or disappointing and I always wonder what I could have done differently.
Lately, I’ve been trying to be more optimistic about the times things don’t quite work out. Though I still don’t like failing, I have learned that sometimes it’s truly the best thing for me. And I think everyone could learn something from falling down a few times. You may be skeptical that I haven’t really failed if I’m extoling it. I promise you, I have.
Just last semester I failed a transcription quiz in my Medieval Studies class, I failed a Spanish test that I have to pass to get my Masters, I didn’t get into any of the PhD programs I applied to senior year, I had numerous internship applications flat out rejected, and some days I fail to get out of bed on time.
Being late is a small failure. Failing a quiz isn’t the end of the world and now I can transcribe Middle English fairly effectively. My internship rejections lead me to a great internship this summer in the city I want to be in. Not getting into the PhD programs I applied to was the best thing that could have happened to me. Now I’m completing my Masters and pursuing a different path which is arguably a much better fit for passions. I’m still working on refreshing my Spanish skills, but I’m optimistic about that too.
I don’t like failure. I’m just as type A about my life as everyone else is, but I’m learning to roll with the punches. I will not always be successful and neither will you. But college is supposed to be a learning environment. Right now is the time to fail. Date the wrong guy, bomb the exam, stay out too late and miss class, leave a long paper until midnight before it’s due, apply for your dream job or dream internship or grad school and collect the rejection letters. Fail right now.
It’s scary to face failure. But I can guarantee you that your grades don’t matter as much as you think they do, dating someone you don’t marry isn’t a bad thing, and not getting what you think you want is ok. Learn from the times you fail. Try harder. Take bigger risks. Chase your crazy dreams. Fall in love and get your heart broken. You’re a college student. It is safe to fail here. And even though your friends may not admit it, they’re failing just as much as you are. Some days it’s big things, but a lot of the time it’s small things.
Don’t let failure deter you. Try to embrace it. If you learn how to fall, it doesn’t hurt quite as much on impact. Learn from the mistakes you make and stay optimistic. There are a million success stories that began with failure. 12 different publishers rejected J. K. Rowling’s manuscript for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone before it finally became a best selling book and one of the highest selling series of all time. And think of Thomas Edison inventing the light bulb. He famously said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Sometimes life is just a matter of perspective.
Learn to persevere in the face of failure. You never know when the big success that changes your life is right around the corner. For now, get knocked down, stand back up and dust yourself off. And remember, when you fail, you’re in good company.
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