An entity that everyone encounters is failure.

So is it rational to persistently be scared of something that is supposedly inevitable?

Through different forms of failure, like intellectual failures, we can learn a multitude of valuable lessons. Moreover, everyone has the opportunity to fail, whether that be in our school, work, or home life; there is always something that we can fumble in one way or another, and, as humans, we fail every day. But if failure actually helps us learn, where does our fear of it come from? 

Failing is not our main concern—it is the consequences that haunt us afterward. The effects can have monstrous repercussions that we do not expect and are not looking forward to. That alone is the scariest element of failure. 

This fear is a valid emotion but oftentimes it is beneficial to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. To minimize preventable failures, that includes daily blunders, we must fabricate a plan of attack. By using resources, such as paper planners or reminders on our phones, we can become mindful of upcoming events and due dates. I found that having a digital planner has saved me from forgetting things on multiple occasions. I always keep my plan of attack as the first thing I see in the morning; I want to start my day off as productive as possible. And, although I do my best to nip the preventable failures in the bud, every once in awhile I mess up. Staying wrapped up in our fears and never conquering them may make us feel better in the moment, but it also sets us back from the productivity that we need to accomplish our goals. The best way to minimize the chance of failure is to go out into the world with a plan and leave our fears at home.

When sharing our success, we expect gratification without complications, but some types of failures can have the same outcome that we desire from those successes. Sharing our defeats, downfalls, and dark moments with our communities can help others to learn from our mistakes and misunderstandings; knowledge is power, and we must fail first to learn anything at all. 

While it may seem daunting to come forward and confess our failures, there is always a silver lining to every dark cloud that we encounter. Sharing our feelings can ensure that others will learn from our mistakes. The same mistake shouldn’t happen twice, and we can move forward with our lives if we do not have roadblocks such as failure in the way. 

It can be superficial to get caught up in the negative feelings, but a monumental way to stay positive is to constantly remind ourselves that we are learning new things every day; we can not be expected to be perfect at everything.

Sometimes failure is inevitable; there are situations that we can not learn from without failing first. When embarrassed, it seems easiest to hide our faces and protect our pride, but the yearn for knowledge pushes us to confess when we mess up. 

When you fail repeatedly, it is easy to get inside of your own head and look down on yourself saying things like “I’m not good enough” or “I will never get this.” Why do we allow the Devil on our shoulder to whisper pretty little lies into our innocent ears?

Some forms of negative reinforcement can propel us to overcome obstacles overnight through the pressure that is placed on our shoulders; but in reality, the high standards of others are all in our heads and should be dispelled.

Even when we are versatile and doing our utmost, it is common to see ourselves fail throughout our daily routines.

Society in 2020 has created a stigma that failure is unsatisfactory and only shows weakness when admitted to; failure is much more than messing up. Our strengths challenge us to be the best version of ourselves, to complete goals we never thought to be possible, and to surround ourselves with positive feelings overall. 

In the moment, failure can feel like chains on a prison wall, but in reality, failure is eye-opening and freeing. We should not be scared to fail; we should not be scared of something that propels us forwards in life. We still stand tall today; we have traversed through one-hundred percent of our worst days. 

We must pick ourselves off the ground, dust off our shoulders, and keep moving forward. Failure is knowledge. Knowledge is power. Power is strength. Failure is, ultimately, strength.