tesblair
Nov 15, 2013
Undergraduate / "It is hard to fail,but it is worse never to have tried to succeed"; UW MADISON- UNNOTICED [2]
Consider something in your life you think goes unnoticed and write about why it's important to you.
"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed." ― Theodore Roosevelt
What do Bill Gates, Thomas Edison, Stephan King and Steven Spielberg all have in common? They all attempted to do something and failed and if they had given up, they would not be who they are or where they are today. Thomas Edison created hundreds of light bulb prototypes before he finally was able to create the one that made him famous. Bill Gates first business attempt crashed and burned miserably and now he is one of the most successful and rich men in America. Stephen King had his first book, Carrie, rejected multiple times before it finally got published and went on to become a best seller and a classic. Steven Spielberg got rejected twice from film school and went on to direct Jurassic Park, Jaws and Shindler's List. All of these people, who have contributed so much through science, business and the arts, all failed at first. Every one of them experienced disappointment, rejection and failure. Time and time again they hit brick walls and were told to give up, to stop trying. Yet all of them kept going, they pushed on and on until at last they reached their goals and had their dreams realized.
There is something about the ability to get back up on your feet when you get knocked down that truly makes a person stronger. The fact that these bumps in the road, though they may hurt both self-confidence and pride, make you a better and more resilient person is a comforting notion. Complications to plans are part of life and an integral part of personal growth, no person can truly excel unless they face some sort of obstacle or trial. It's this ability to remain steadfast and upbeat even under the looming cloud of disappointment or fear of failure, to be able to shrug off failure and understand that it's just another step in the right direction towards greatness that makes a person truly great. When people have things handed to them on a silver platter they tend not to appreciate it as much as if they had to fight tooth and nail for it. Now, I may not be a great inventor, writer or movie director and I don't know the first thing about business, but I do know a thing or two about getting back on your feet when life throws you a curveball.
There are lots of little curveballs or bumps in the road I could talk about but I think the biggest curve ball I've been thrown was finding out I was going to be a mom last year. Every teenager thinks they are invincible, that they will be fine no matter what they do and that they are somehow above the life choices they make, until they suddenly are smacked in the face by reality and brought down to the real world. It was defiantly not on my "to do" list as a freshman in college and it was an unexpected turn of events. Since my daughter's dad wasn't in the picture I found myself alone, facing the largest leap into adulthood I had ever made. Again, you learn to roll with what life deals out and you realize the choices you make are going to affect your life. After finding out I contemplated dropping out of college completely, just getting a job and raising my daughter but I took a long hard look at my life and decided on a plan of action. I was going to go to college, I was going to graduate, and I was going to go into the field of study I had dreamed about since I was in kindergarten, I was going to work hard every day and I was going to be the best mom I could be on top of all of it. What can I say? I love a challenge. And this last year has been a real challenge but we've pulled through somehow. And it's paid off, my GPA has vastly improved since freshman year, showing what a little hard work and incentive can do. Being a working single mum going to college full time has taught me a lot about endurance, about making sacrifices and about serious time management and I wouldn't be here today without the ability to see a road block in life and decide to smash through it. Being able to hold my head up high and keep going, even though everything seems to be working against me some days, has been the one quality which has got me through the most.
Not many people realize how large a part failure plays in success. Everyone fails when they're trying to reach the top, just like children fall down when they're learning to walk. If the child never got back on their feet and kept trying, they would never walk. And just like that I'm going to keep trying until I succeed. I may get rejected, I may not always come in first but I will never stop trying to achieve my dreams and striving to make them a reality. This doesn't make me fearless or brave, some days I'm scared to death I won't make it, that I won't be able to achieve my dreams for me or my daughter. Some days I feel like Rocky Balboa fighting Apollo Creed and every time life knocks me down life calls from the sidelines "Stay down Rock!" Luckily both Rocky and I refuse to stay down and out and will continue fighting until the end. And despite that fear there is a constant knowledge that I have to keep going, keep moving forward. And I think it's this one quality, to never give up and keep getting back up no matter what, that may go unnoticed in everyday life which makes me a stronger and better person.
Consider something in your life you think goes unnoticed and write about why it's important to you.
"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed." ― Theodore Roosevelt
What do Bill Gates, Thomas Edison, Stephan King and Steven Spielberg all have in common? They all attempted to do something and failed and if they had given up, they would not be who they are or where they are today. Thomas Edison created hundreds of light bulb prototypes before he finally was able to create the one that made him famous. Bill Gates first business attempt crashed and burned miserably and now he is one of the most successful and rich men in America. Stephen King had his first book, Carrie, rejected multiple times before it finally got published and went on to become a best seller and a classic. Steven Spielberg got rejected twice from film school and went on to direct Jurassic Park, Jaws and Shindler's List. All of these people, who have contributed so much through science, business and the arts, all failed at first. Every one of them experienced disappointment, rejection and failure. Time and time again they hit brick walls and were told to give up, to stop trying. Yet all of them kept going, they pushed on and on until at last they reached their goals and had their dreams realized.
There is something about the ability to get back up on your feet when you get knocked down that truly makes a person stronger. The fact that these bumps in the road, though they may hurt both self-confidence and pride, make you a better and more resilient person is a comforting notion. Complications to plans are part of life and an integral part of personal growth, no person can truly excel unless they face some sort of obstacle or trial. It's this ability to remain steadfast and upbeat even under the looming cloud of disappointment or fear of failure, to be able to shrug off failure and understand that it's just another step in the right direction towards greatness that makes a person truly great. When people have things handed to them on a silver platter they tend not to appreciate it as much as if they had to fight tooth and nail for it. Now, I may not be a great inventor, writer or movie director and I don't know the first thing about business, but I do know a thing or two about getting back on your feet when life throws you a curveball.
There are lots of little curveballs or bumps in the road I could talk about but I think the biggest curve ball I've been thrown was finding out I was going to be a mom last year. Every teenager thinks they are invincible, that they will be fine no matter what they do and that they are somehow above the life choices they make, until they suddenly are smacked in the face by reality and brought down to the real world. It was defiantly not on my "to do" list as a freshman in college and it was an unexpected turn of events. Since my daughter's dad wasn't in the picture I found myself alone, facing the largest leap into adulthood I had ever made. Again, you learn to roll with what life deals out and you realize the choices you make are going to affect your life. After finding out I contemplated dropping out of college completely, just getting a job and raising my daughter but I took a long hard look at my life and decided on a plan of action. I was going to go to college, I was going to graduate, and I was going to go into the field of study I had dreamed about since I was in kindergarten, I was going to work hard every day and I was going to be the best mom I could be on top of all of it. What can I say? I love a challenge. And this last year has been a real challenge but we've pulled through somehow. And it's paid off, my GPA has vastly improved since freshman year, showing what a little hard work and incentive can do. Being a working single mum going to college full time has taught me a lot about endurance, about making sacrifices and about serious time management and I wouldn't be here today without the ability to see a road block in life and decide to smash through it. Being able to hold my head up high and keep going, even though everything seems to be working against me some days, has been the one quality which has got me through the most.
Not many people realize how large a part failure plays in success. Everyone fails when they're trying to reach the top, just like children fall down when they're learning to walk. If the child never got back on their feet and kept trying, they would never walk. And just like that I'm going to keep trying until I succeed. I may get rejected, I may not always come in first but I will never stop trying to achieve my dreams and striving to make them a reality. This doesn't make me fearless or brave, some days I'm scared to death I won't make it, that I won't be able to achieve my dreams for me or my daughter. Some days I feel like Rocky Balboa fighting Apollo Creed and every time life knocks me down life calls from the sidelines "Stay down Rock!" Luckily both Rocky and I refuse to stay down and out and will continue fighting until the end. And despite that fear there is a constant knowledge that I have to keep going, keep moving forward. And I think it's this one quality, to never give up and keep getting back up no matter what, that may go unnoticed in everyday life which makes me a stronger and better person.
