Celebrating Failure

1.  Just last Sunday I went with the Surf Club at St. Augustine. I never went surfing before, but I wanted to try it, so off I went to the beach with everyone else involved. When it was my turn to go surfing, I had to drag my long board across the sand to get to our starting point. When I finally got in the water, I tried multiple times to stand on my surfboard and failed. My legs were tangled with the leash, the board kept moving away or kept hitting me, and the waves slapped me whenever possible. In my last attempt to surf, I wiped out and fell completely into the water. I'll still be going back to surf some more though. Practice makes perfect!

2. I learned that surfing is a lot harder than it looks! I also discovered that despite the many failed attempts to stand on my board, I want to go back and keep trying. I want to ride the waves and be a part of the surfing community. Surfing is so much fun, and I want to keep doing it. I finally learned that failure is not always a dead end, but an alternative route to reaching success. The more I practice, the better I'll get!

3. At first I got so upset on my failures. I like doing things well the first time, because I want the first time to be the last time. I don't like retrying things. However, as I got older, I came to the realization that trying again will only increase my chances of doing better. Also, me failing at something is not a sign that I myself am a failure too. Because of this class, I am more open to taking risks to achieve what I want in life - although there's a good chance I will still be uncomfortable about it.