“ So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” Galations 6:9
“I really don't think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don't mind the failure but I can't imagine that I'd forgive myself if I didn't try? Nikki Giovanni
“Ms. Spencer, I can’t do it ….. it don’t come out right!!!!”
This was what my kindergarten student managed to say to me between sobs. The class was learning how to use scissors. Adriana was a special student , bright, inquisitive along with some perfectionist tendencies. She was frustrated that it was taking time for her to learn how to use them. I remember telling her , “Adriana, you are doing it, if you keep on practicing, you will learn how to do it. If you just stop, it won’t ever come out right. You gotta keep trying. Ms Spencer still has things she is learning and she has to keep practicing, so she can learn how to do new things.”
Her eyes widened and she looked at me and said, “You still gotta learn stuff?” I laughed and nodded, and gently guided her to continue practicing. .
As she continued to work, I thought about two of my favorite quotes from Nikki Giovanni.
“The unwillingness to try is worse than any failure” Nikki Giovanni
“I really don't think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don't mind the failure but I can't imagine that I'd forgive myself if I didn't try.
My relationship with failure has shifted over the years. When we first became acquainted failure was to be avoided at all costs. But as I grew, I learned that failure was not the opposite of success, failure was a part of the process. No one likes to fail, but what if we shifted our perception. One of the reasons that I loved teaching is that the children constantly taught and reminded me that failure is when we don’t try at all. Children learn by trial and error or try and fail. But each attempt brings them closer to mastery. What if we viewed Fail as First Acquisition In Learning? Think of all the inventions that would never exist, if the creator stopped at the first malfunction or failure.
Thomas Edison said “I have not failed. I’ve just found out 10,000 ways that won’t work”
Life has taught me the value of shifting my perspective on failure. Adriana, my student, had my heart because I saw myself in her, perfectionist tendencies and all. But she taught me that every skill that we do with ease came through a series of trial and errors, tries and fails, and each step brought us closer to learning to do it. Sheila, shift your perspective on failure.
My devotional this past week included a prayer and section on Transforming Fear and Failure. One section of the prayer resonated deeply with me. Kachelle Kelly says,
“Change my perception of how I see failure. Allow me to have the heart and mind to accept failure as an opportunity to be better. Thank you for every failed relationship and partnership. For the lessons learned in , during, and after the process, to make me a better person and not a bitter person”
Kachelle Kelly
Thank you Adriana for reminding me that I gotta keep doing it so that it will eventually turn out right. And rethink all of the acronyms for
