Life After Failure

Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?

During my junior year I applied for a work-study internship with my high school that would have allowed me to earn my own money and gain an opportunity to receive both financial aid for college and an opportunity for a job after finishing my education. To apply for the internship I had to go through an extensive application and interview process that took a lot of time and a lot work. When I receive the news that I had not gotten the internship, I was very upset and disappointed, I had failed. But I learned something from that failure. I realized failure was indeed an option, and I needed to be prepared for the possibility. Planning ahead with alternative options is a very good idea. Instead of working at the internship I am taking several college classes through my high school Jump Start program at the local community college and focusing on my academics and Tae Kwon Do.

As my senior year progresses, this lesson is coming into practice day by day. With college approaching, summer plans need to be made. Everything is a “maybe”. There are a number of directions that my summer plans could go. The current plan for the beginning of the summer is a week and half long trip to Japan with my school’s Japan Club, which is pretty much set in stone, unless early college opportunities appear. After that I have two opportunities to pursue for the rest of the summer: a camp counselor at a YMCA camp I have attended for years, or participating in an internship with the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program that studies earth processes by taking geological core samples in many locations around the world. Depending on when either of those summer-long opportunities ends I hope round off the summer with a trip to an island called Iona, just off the coast of Scotland, for a spiritual retreat with my church.

But all these plans need further fallback options, so stay tune!