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FAILURE: Where failure will take you

By the time you are 21, “failure” might not be a word you like to use but it is definitely a word to which you can relate. Whether it pertains…

By the time you are 21, “failure” might not be a word you like to use but it is definitely a word to which you can relate. Whether it pertains to not getting into your “dream college,” not making a team or not getting that “dream internship,” failure is part of life. And I might say the best part of life!

Wait, wait, don’t leave this blog just yet! I am not about to write a few lines to make you think “cry me a river!” Instead, I hope to do the exact opposite. So I’ll make you a bet: if you don’t leave after the first 12 lines (starting now) you might actually agree with me.

Failure is the best part of life. Without failure you wouldn’t realize that college or internship or team wasn’t for you and you wouldn’t be able to do exactly what you are doing right now.

My senior year of high school I just knew I wanted to go to Brown University after graduation. I had planned my whole life around that dream- until I didn’t get in. I would be lying if I said I didn’t cry and think, “Oh no! What am I going to do now?” But I picked up the pieces of what I thought then was “my horrible life” and decided on another college. It has been the best decision of my life.

At DePauw University, I am living a dream and learning something each day. I have traveled to India and the United Arab Emirates. Not to mention my parents and sister are able to attend every game that I cheer, every dance show that I perform in and countless other fun events at my university. So without this “failure” I would not be exactly where I am today: writing this blog, living this life and being this happy. Back in 2009 when I thought my life was “over” it turns out I was wrong and in fact my life was only going to get better- so much better. I was going to live out my dream- a better dream than I ever could have imagined.

So I say bring on the “failure!” Okay- maybe that was going too far! But instead I will say, “bring on the life lessons.” Everybody fails but it’s the people who pick up the pieces, learn their lessons and go dancing in the rain who move to the next dream. They have the right idea.

Winston Churchill said, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” And I would say that I enthusiastically can’t wait to see what the future has in store for me!

 

Jade Powers is a summer intern at Indiana Humanities. In the fall she will be entering her senior year at DePauw University where she is a Religious Studies and Art History double major, student government representative and a devoted member of the DePauw Cheerleading Squad.