“Never mind, this was probably a bad idea anyway.”

When my sister was explaining her idea for a fundraiser at her school to me, she started talking enthusiastically, telling me how much this fundraiser would impact the students and that it would help give her fellow classmates a voice for change. As I continued talking to her about the idea, I could see the doubt in her eyes and she started questioning her fundraising idea harshly after showing so much excitement about it. She started to see everything that could go wrong instead of everything that could go right.

After I thought about this incident for a while, I finally realized why my sister had a sudden change of heart about her fundraising idea: when she thought of everything that went wrong, she saw failure. And seeing failure made her back away from her idea and nearly abandon it.

People are at their most vulnerable when they present something new, or are forming an idea in their head. When you first begin to think of something, it’s easy to ignore all the flaws of it and only think of the positives. While this is a good way to begin thinking of an idea, it later tends to turn on us, and we become discouraged when things aren’t working out. We seem to forget the fact that failure or simply messing up goes right along with forming a new idea. There are always going to be failures when you are in the process of creating an idea, but those failures are what makes an idea stronger. Instead of cowering before failure, embrace it and learn from it.

“Thank you, but I’m so bad at this.”

I had just complimented my friend on how well she was doing with learning a new instrument. She had known how to play bass clarinet for a few years, but now faced the challenge of a different instrument. She had only been practicing for a few weeks, and was already doubting herself and her musical abilities. Learning a new instrument takes a great deal of time and patience, especially after you have become very good at another instrument.

We should never let our own criticism take over when we try something new; it is our worst enemy when we try to branch out. It’s almost like if we don’t master something in a matter of days, we might as well accept failure at it and move on, when in reality the opposite is true. Failing at something new is simply a part of the process of mastering it. Once you’ve perfected something, it’s easy to think you can perfect everything. You just grow used to the ease of playing an instrument, sketching a drawing or passing a ball perfectly. When that ease disappears during a new activity, we become confused. We think to ourselves “Why can’t I do this?” and turn this confusion into frustration. We become so filled up with self-criticism and doubt, we turn to quitting instead of persevering. This can be so dangerous. How will we ever know if that activity we tried would turn into something we loved? Trying something new with high hopes for perfecting it is great, as long as you remember that failure is part of the process of perfection.

I personally am always wary of trying something new. If you don’t branch out, then how can you possibly fail? But what I’ve realized, especially in my sophomore year, is that it’s better to branch out and fail at something new than to stay stuck in the same old routine. I’ve began to accept that there will be mess-ups and embarrassments whenever you try something new. But right alongside those mistakes are laughs, memories, amazing people, a new appreciation for something and a discovery of what you truly love. And isn’t that worth the risk of failing?