My Experience With Failure

Every person becomes discouraged at some point in their life. They become consumed with frustration and feel as though all hope is lost. My story of discouragement begins at the start of my junior year track season. I had made so many improvements since the previous season and knew I had the potential to be the best in the state. However, the first few track meets of the season this did show at all. For some reason I could not put it all together in the competition setting and ended up not clearing any bar the two first meets in a row. I felt like giving up, I had put my heart and soul into this and was not getting anywhere near the results I had expected. Even though I was at my lowest point I knew I loved the sport far too much to ever quit,

Failure has always been a part of my life. As a child, I fell short of minor goals such as riding a bicycle, doing a pull-up, or beating a difficult level on Super Mario Bros. Although these set backs were small, I constantly kepy trying untill I could accomplish the task at hand. In fact, I would say one of my most euphoric moments in my child hood was when I learned how to ride a bike.

One incident I can recount when I experienced failure was when I joined Cross Country. Since, I can remember I have always excelled at everything I did, from my academics to dance class to music lessons. When I entered into my freshman year of high school, I decided I would to join an athletic team in order to keep myself occupied outside of academics. I figured joining a sport would be another good attribute to add to my resume. Initially, my mind was set to join the soccer team. However, I found out there weren’t any openings available. The only team that had an opening was The Cross Country Team. I was terrified…my parents encouraged me to join as there wasn’t an option not to.

Since I was in about 1st grade, I have been skiing with my family. I have been to many different places to go skiing, such as resorts in Colorado, Wisconsin, and Michigan. One particular story takes place at a resort in Colorado called Vail, when I was about 11 years old. My family and my friends family were driving three hours from the airport to the resort through the cold, snowy weather. We finally got to the house we stayed at and went to sleep. Over the night, it had snowed about one and a half feet. In the morning, we woke up eager to get out on the fresh snow and ski. We hurried to the mountain with our skis and took the lift to the top of the mountain. As we started skiing, we approached a section of the mountain where we could only

Since I was one of the top runners with a fast time of the one hundred and two hundred events, I had qualified for sectionals. Also, for the four by one relay and the four by four relay, the team of four that I competed in, both qualified for sectionals because we had been the top runners for these events. It was the end of another practice in track, and I stood next to the entrance of the school, waiting for my parents to come pick me up to go home. As I was waiting, I looked outside. The grass was swaying, the sun was behind the clouds like it was playing hide and seek, and the branches of the trees were waving to all nature around them. The day was peaceful, but my mind was racing and racing on the upcoming track meet at Sectionals. I was so excited and exhilarated to compete in sectionals, I couldn 't wait to tell my family. I always have liked the competitive drive every time before I would run a race. I always enjoyed the feeling of the wind against my face, and the power it took to sprint to the finish line. My knees started shaking, and the sharp pain in my stomach began to get worse. How would I get rid of the nervousness before and during the experience of competing in sectionals? How would I know if I’m completely prepared to do my best for the running events? How would I know the other competitors strength and weaknesses in order to get into one of the top places in one of

There I was out in the cold, in the middle of January, at 6:00 AM. I had put my skis in the bus and was waiting for Mr. Mud to get on the bus and do a roll call. It was the third race of the season, but it would be my first time actually racing. Once, Mr. Mud was done, we left Simsbury High School, and headed to some far off place to ski. When we arrived at out skiing destination, we got our belongings out of the bus, settled in at the lodge, and began practicing. At first, I had a bit of trouble staying on balance and actually skiing, but then I finally balanced myself out. I tried doing one run of the course, and it was quite challenging. I didn’t even make it past the first hill, but I didn’t know how. I returned to the lodge early. Then, the races began, and I became quite anxious as the beginner race

Many individuals experience different amounts of failure in their lifetimes. Many learn and grow from their defeats and others let it keep them from succeeding.  I made sure that failure was another obstacle to success. Icons like Randy moss didn’t let failure get the best of him when he didn’t make the freshman high school football team, and look at him now, he is one of the best Football players of all time.

During my final year of Cross Country around Regionals at Oglethorpe, I ran my final race for my high school career. Banks County was nearly number one in the State, the furthest we had ever ranked in history, and spirit and hopes for State Championship were high. I was nervous, like nobody’s business, I had messed up during my senior night because I was upset for my parents for not showing up and escorting me. And I was scared that I was going to do horribly. But as I ran, I realized that if I let my past mistakes and failures hold me back or get in my way, so I ran, harder and better than I ever had before and apparently even beat a “skinny kid”. It was my best and proudest moment for both of the seasons. I will always remember it fondly,

Still I first, I begin to slow down in pace. I shouldn't have used up most of my energy in the beginning. I'm only half way done with the the 1600 meter, and I'm going to need to preserve my energy. I decide that I will have to take a small break to "Recharge" my energy. Others are now getting very close now, so I decide my little break is over. I fell good enough to finish this race, as I rapidly pick up my pace. The finish line is so close, but so are the other runners. By now, I can hear all of the players booing at me. "I'm going to prove them wrong" I say as I run through the finish line. As the thin piece of paper tears, I'm overwhelmed. Even though I knew I would win, it was still a struggle. The struggle was kind of symbolic of my life. Lots of "Ups" and lots of "Downs". There were times when I had to just take a break, like what happens a lot when I'm getting bullied. At the same time, the was lots of love. Love for the sport, and love for my mom. Track pulled me out of the dark, old life I used to live,and I'm forever great full for it. Track would be now be my career. I can't explain how excited I am for all of these

As I got back to my stance, I started breathing heavily. Thoughts of getting hit by a ball again, zoomed through my brain over and over again. Now number twenty eight was ready to bat. The first pitch Abby threw was a monster. I knew that this was going to be a strike. But I guessed wrong, the batter took a big, hard swing at the tiny, yellow ball. The ball skidded to shortstop. As she fielded the ball perfectly. She gripped the ball tightly and let the ball fly. I was all ready for the catch, I had faith in myself that I was going to catch the ball. Even though my right arm ached, and my arm started to drop, I knew that I was going to do it. What I didn’t know is that all of this I thought of, was not going to

Failure is an opportunity for some to improve and build upon themselves so they have a better chance to succeed in the future. My junior year at Western Branch was an exciting one with a lot of surprises and disappointments. That year my track team came close to winning the state championship, but with a lot bad performances by the team, myself included, we were not able to overcome the competition. It was an even greater blow when the girls’ side of the team won, despite the boys’ team having more naturally talented athletes. The work that we put in during the summer, fall, and winter felt like it was for nothing more than to lose some weight and get in shape.

the general idea of grit is stamina. How long can a person go with doing something in

Boom, bang, pow! Boxing was all I ever thought about as a child. I would dream, eat, and sleep boxing. Though I was a little shrimp weighing in only 75 pounds, I had a very big heart, which gave me the drive to keep on pushing forward. Everyone around me seemed like giants, but that did not stop me from doing what I love. Boxing sculpted me into a stronger person mentally.

One of my experiences with failure took place when I was in fourth grade. There were many problems accumulated and I was a child who needed people to see if I did my homework or study for the test, because I couldn’t concentrate and was distracted by anything in the room. My brother also had problems that year, he needed more attention because he didn’t get along with his math teacher and my Mom was always after him with the homework; otherwise he would have failed Math at the end of the year.

In our life, there are periods of challenges that we must face, but the real challenge is how we grow and learn from overcoming them. Being naive children, we believed that life was simplistic and effortless. Well, we were wrong, we can only yearn for life to be easy. Growing up, we continue to face countless hurdles that only get bigger and bigger. My life, in particular, has been filled with numerous up and downs. It felt like I was in an endless roller coaster going up and down. Some believe that life is filled with obstacles and experiences that will help us pave the path to our own successes. But is that really accurate? There are some points in life when I’ve felt that I would never conquer a problem. From trying to learn to walk, to making big decisions that would affect the outcome of life. There are always complications and doubts that block our path. What job am I to choose? What university do I apply for? These thoughts will soon turn into a bitter reality. A reality that we will have to face. I would do anything to go back in time when I thought learning division was complicated as untying a series of knots. Sadly, this is the harsh reality, but even in this reality, we see even ourselves getting through a barrier. Life isn’t a game where you only have one try. Even when we stumble a thousand times, we can still manage to get back up, and it’s that thing about life that leaves me in awe. Life is a series of failures and lessons. Sometimes, even failures are