26A - Celebrating Failure

A time when you failed:

I could think of a few times where I failed this past semester. Some were in my control and some were out of my control. Trying to control my attitude in uncontrollable situations and have a positive outlook would be my failure. The coronavirus has affected my life and everyone else’s life in the world at this point. When I found out that I my abroad program was being cancelled due to the coronavirus and I had to return back to America upset me more than anything. That was an uncontrollable circumstance, so controlling my attitude was the goal since I received that email. Now that I have been home for over 1.5 months, my positive outlook has come and gone. Some days I am okay and have accepted it, and other days don’t go so well. I keep telling myself that it wasn’t only me and really am trying to stay positive in this horrible and sad pandemic situation. I keep trying to tell myself that I have my health, so I am more than lucky. I keep going back to the fact that I’m upset, and this was supposed to happen. Most recently, this past week I found out that my summer internship program is now cancelled. I really cannot find my positive attitude in any of this anymore. I promised myself in the beginning of March that this isn’t the end of the world but now so many negative things are happening that it’s hard for me to stay positive. I would say that this has overall been my failure this semester. Another failure I would say is my procrastination with online school now. It’s been very hard for me to actually sit down and do the things I need to do until the last minute possible.

What did you learn from it?

I learned that not every situation is controllable. It’s hard for me to grasp onto that idea but these times have really shown me that not everything is in my hands. I’m learning slowly that not everything is the end of the world and obstacles are a part of life. In no way is this easy, but it is doable to deal with and hopefully soon all problems will fix itself out. For my procrastination problem, I learned that it is really not wise to do so! It only adds pressure to me for no good reason.

Reflection:

I think that failure stinks. No one enjoys failure, and if they say so, they’re lying. Everyone wants to succeed in what they do! Failure though is a part of life and that’s just how it is. At first, I don’t take failure very well. I get really upset and think the worst possible things. I usually talk to my friends and parents about failure situations and they make me feel better. Talking out failure is a great way to make myself feel better. My family and friends have an outside perspective and can be reassuring when I need it most. This class has changed on how I think about failure. Just this assignment alone has let me really think about the importance of failure in life. I have learned that failure is okay and it’s okay to admit that. Admitting failure could be very hard for some people. Learning about entrepreneurship has taught me that the best entrepreneurs have failed countless amounts of times and were still able to make it in the real world.