When I Am Told “No”...

Its never easy to hear “no” or “give up”. Like many, I’ve been told that there is nothing wrong with failing, and moving on. But there is everything wrong with that, because for me, there is a lot of room for regret in that statement.

There is this class that I’ve taken one too many times. While that was the case, my professors would try to consolidate me and tell me that there are other paths for me. When I hear that, I only hear “try again. Try harder. Just do not give up.”

As a softball player, I have known Victories, but those came from the grit and perseverance of our failures. Each game lost, meant another game played harder. We have come too far to just call it quits.

Each letter of rejection from the colleges I wanted to get into did not lower my spirits. It made me want to prove them wrong and that I could indeed be successful at a university. It made me get a 3.5 GPA in my last senior semester that impressed the university I attend now. That could not have happened if I had given up.

I am a firm believer that everyone is at the spot they are in because of their actions. I do not think that people were placed in important roles without sacrifice and failures. Failures and grit to continue trying because that meant getting closer to becoming better at what they could not succeed in the first or second time around. Everything needs to be worked for, and nobody but you decides that your fight is over. Failure should not be anything of embarrassment, but rather of empowerment when it is after you have tried everything.

That being said, my fight is not over. This is the career I chose to pursue, and I will do whatever it takes to make my career goals a reality. Learning how to become proactive about my shortcomings has been an advantage. Challenges do not phase me, and I encourage them for my development. Rather than being embarrassed about repeating this difficult course, I chose to acknowledge where I went wrong and where things were out of my control that also contributed to my failure. One thing is for sure, my fight is not over. I have chosen to take this course elsewhere where I know I will be able to be successful, and have my contingency plan figured out.