26A Celebrating Failure

Something I failed at this semester was quizzes in my photography class. It seems that this class would easier, as I am taking it as an elective for graduation requirements, but the quizzes are tremendously hard. I watch the lectures for hours, read throughout the book, and even do additional readings on certain photographers that are discussed in each chapter. Yet, I continued to struggle on the quizzes and I could not figure out why. It was extremely frustrating to put in so much work to learn the material, and then when the quizzes came, the questions were so detailed and it would be so frustrating to not remember the one extremely specific detail about the lectures/readings and I would get the question wrong. I would try even harder on the other assignments in the class, yet always struggled with the quizzes, which was ultimately bringing my grade down even more. It was very frustrating, as well, as this class is an elective, therefore it should be on the easier side of a class, not necessarily one of my toughest. 

From this I learned that even if somethings seem easy, they still require hard work, time, and dedication. After I put in a lot of work and studied for the first few quizzes I easily could have just stopped because it clearly was not working. But instead I just studied hard, paid more attention to detail, and figured out the types of questions being asked, and then recalling information in that way. I learned that not all things come easy, and honestly, when I did good (which cam eventually) I was proud of my hard work and the time I spent because I felt like it paid off. 

I think failure can be hard if you do not learn from it. I think we go through many things in life for a reason, and how we react to those things is what defines us. Change is the only constant thing in our lives, yet it is something almost everyone fears in their life. Yet, change is inevitable. You grow up at home, go off to college, which is one of the biggest changes you face in your life until that moment. Then you get comfortable at college, and then change happens again and you go out into the real world. Failure produces change, and change makes people uncomfortable, therefore this only equates to failure being uncomfortable. Yet, if you face failure, learn from failure, then you will be successful in the end, because failure teaches things that success can never. If you never failed, you would never know what it feels like to overcome something, or try really, really hard at something, or change because of something. 

Personally, I handle failure in a unique way. I think that in the moment, failure can really eat you up. Whether it be a hard break up, a job you did not get, or a test you failed, we all literally fail. But I personally look at failure in the mindset of "how can I become better from this." How can I grow and learn from the break up, how can I get a different job, how can I study better for the next test, that is how I look at failure. I think we are all human beings so it is normal to be emotional directly after failure, but it is how we react to that in the long run that will show us exactly how we, personally, deal with failure. I think this class as taught me more than ever to do something if that is what you are passionate about. And if you truly want something, you can make it happen because usually it is not the product, the money, or the place that is the problem, its the drive, the work ethic, and the sacrifices that people lack to accomplish their goal. 

That is what this class has taught me.