Celebrating Failure

One time that I failed this semester was when I went skiing over spring break.  I went to Jackson Hole with my best friend, Bryce, and his family, and it was my first time skiing.  I was excited but definitely a bit nervous since it's apparently one of the most advanced ski resorts in America.  I started with a full day of lessons, which went well for the most part, but I couldn't turn sharply or hockey-stop (which is when you quickly rotate your ski's 90 degrees to slow down rapidly).  Even at the end of my six-hour lesson, I still struggled with these aspects, which meant that I wasn't ready to tackle any blue runs or even the steeper green runs.  It also meant that I couldn't allow myself to get going too fast because I lacked high-speed control, which was frustrating because I wanted to keep up with Bryce who is very good at skiing.  Thankfully though, he helped me work on my technique for the entire second day of skiing.  There were times where I didn't feel like I was improving, or I would do a decent hockey-stop but then I could not replicate it.  We practiced on Eagle's Rest, which is one of the steeper green runs where I fell many times and even plowed into a snowdrift at one point.  But slowly I improved and became more confident.  By the end of that day, I felt much more confident and was able to tackle my first blue run on the third day, and by the fourth day, I was shredding and having the best time of my life!

This experience taught me that when trying something new or learning a new skill, you're almost destined to fail at it many times before you become competent enough to actually enjoy it.  If you stick with it, keep practicing, and stay positive, however, the feeling of finally succeeding is immensely rewarding.  I am very proud of how I learned to ski well despite the difficulties I encountered, and it allowed me to enjoy the best experience of my life so far.

Failure is definitely hard, and after falling in the snow many times, much to Bryce's amusement, it can be quite embarrassing too.  Most of all though, I think that failure is scary.  I am scared to fail exams, I was scared to fail at my first internship, and I was scared to fail on my first blue run.  The fear of failure for me comes from the consequences I imagine in my head, and I often envision the worst-case scenario.  For instance, on my first blue run, I was afraid of running into someone and hurting us both if I still wasn't good enough to stay under control.  To try and handle failure, I have been trying to get myself to focus on the potential rewards, rather than the consequences, of taking a risk or facing a challenge head-on.  This class has made failure less frightening to me, and I am more likely to take a risk now than a few months ago.