Failure Paves the Road to Success

Failure
In our American society the word “failure” has an aura of negativity surrounding it. The very thought of failing makes many people cringe. Think back to your school days for example. If you ever had the displeasure of failing an assignment, test, or (God forbid) an entire class, the first thought in your mind is “oh no, (insert parental figure here) is going to KILL me.” This feeling was not dampened, and quite possibly even exacerbated by those in authority, be it parents or teachers. This failure, like all things in life, came with consequences; most likely the loss of certain freedoms and a crack down on how you spent your free time.
Ramifications
But wasn’t this horrible feeling and loss of freedoms meant to motivate them to strive for greatness? If they feel enough shame and regret for their poor performance will they not try harder to succeed in the future? Whether that was the intention or not, the fact of the matter is these kinds of reactions toward failure do quite the opposite. Upon failure, punishment is dealt and the only lesson learned is “if I don’t succeed from the start, then I am a failure and will be punished”. Side effects of these punishments would include: learned helplessness, lack of resilience and perseverance in even the simplest tasks, and overall minimal self-confidence and agency (agency being one’s ability to make a choice and act with certain intentions or outcomes to be achieved).
Paving the road to success
The reality is that our failures are not the end of the world, nor our reputation as smart and capable people. In fact, our failures are what make us both smart and capable as well as well-rounded characters. When punishment is used in response to failure, the true lesson to be learned will be completely missed. Whatever issue, situation, or circumstance that had led to the failure is the most important lesson. And this lesson should be brought to light by those in a position to teach, not shrouded in shame and punishment for doing something that literally everyone who has ever lived has done. However, this responsibility to teach is not exclusive to authority figures. It is extremely beneficial to any society that one’s friends and peers would help them learn from their failures.
Therefore:
We should not only welcome adversity and failure but take it one step further and celebrate our failure. This by no means suggests we reward ourselves, or others, for their failures. Though instead of punishment and shame, we should realize that every failure is really just a lesson, an opportunity to learn and another step in paving the road to success. Through shame and punishment the only thing we guarantee is lowered self confidence, a less resilient spirit, and increased dependence on others. Instead, when mistakes are made and failures occur, we should analyze the situation, find where things went wrong, and decide what to do differently on the next attempt. In the days to come, let us rid ourselves of the stigma of failure and help each other through edification as we continue to strive for a better, more successful tomorrow.