Nothing like a good quote to put your life in some kind of perspective. I've been thinking a lot about failing lately (and by lately I mean ever since I became a senior in college and the option of failure was around every corner). Now that I'm half-way through my second semester of my new job, I'm realizing that if you never fail, it means that you never really tried. This realization comes to me on the weekend before my first huge presentation to a group of potential Biology textbook adopters. I've been fretting over the option to fail for the past two weeks while making preparations. What if I don't address everyone's concerns during the meeting? What if someone has a question I can't answer? What if someone decides they don't like me? What if? What if? What if? I have realized that I need to take a step back, and remember that the option of failure only occurs when one is trying. This is a concept I failed to grasp last year when I was applying for graduate programs and was terrified of getting rejected. If I wasn't trying to get into grad schools I'd never get rejected in the first place, so at least I was trying (and for the record, I was rejected by many places, but I ended up with one of the best jobs in the world!).
In short, failure means that you tried, ideally your hardest, but you were unsuccessful. When you think about it, failing isn't the worst thing out there, the worst would be not trying at all. Something I'm going to try to remember and live by everyday!
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