Don't Let Failure Hold You Back

“If you have made mistakes, even serious mistakes, you may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call "failure" is not the falling down, but the staying down.” ― Mary Pickford

My mom has always given me the best advice since I was young. But, recentley she told me something that changed my perspective on the way I look at things in my life. I haven't been confident in myself or in my abilities because of things that have happened in the past. Then, she gave me some great advice to fix a problem I didn't even realize I had been struggling with. She told me to stop letting my failures and fears stop me from achieving the things I know I can do and want to do. It's something I think everyone struggles with because we have been told we weren't good enough and we get down on ourselves because of these comments and because of our failures, especially with me in school. And things in the past have discouraged me. But, she told me to forgive myself. Of course I need to recognize what I did wrong, but I shouldn't dwell on it because in the end it doesn't help me, but inhibits me from ever trying again. If what I did can be changed, then I should change it. But if it can't and there's nothing I can do about it, I need to move past it and try again. In my mom's words you must "reflect, learn and grow" from any failures or setbacks you may and will endure. You can't let it stop you and bring you down, because life will constantly test you and you must accept these challenges in order to grow.

Now, I'm going to try and apply my mom's advice to not only my school life but my social life and my mental thought process. With my school life, I shouldn't focus on past grades or oppurtunities I might have missed. Instead I'm going to move on and try my hardest to get back where I want to be and realize that there are still many oppurtunities to come. Academically, instead of thinking "its not worth it", I need to push myself as hard as I know I can without spreading myself too thin, find a balance. WIth my social life, now I know that past friendships don't define present ones. I can't push the way other's have treated me and other people's actions onto the one's who are in my life now, because it isn't fair to them and it's not fair to me. I also have to find a balance within the way I think. Thinking in strictly any extreme, meaning too positive or too negative isn't healthy. What I need to do is change my thought process and turn it from negative to positive in order for me to be happier, which I think is something every person can benefit from: a little positive thinking.